In the days prior to the American Revolution, early settlers seeking land near Lockwood’s Folly River applied for patents and received warrants for surveys of selected tracts.

Upon payment of fifty shillings for each 100 acres, the warrantee could receive a permanent grant from the Royal Governor, Arthur Dobbs.

In 1756 Benjamin Holden bought four mainland tracts and the island between his plantation and the ocean. This island extended from Lockwood’s Folly Inlet west 6 miles to Bacon Inlet.

Benjamin and his sons used the island for fishing and cattle grazing.

Museum Quality Giclées Prints Of This Photograph By Ken Buckner Available In Our Islands Art & Books Store Here!

During the Civil War Holden Beach and Lockwood’s Folley Inlet became the resting place of several shipwrecks: the Confederate blockade runners CSS Elizabeth and CSS Bendigo and the Union blockade ship USS Iron Age.

The remains of the Bendigo can be seen on the eastern end of the island during the periods of low tide. Its wreck is marked with an orange navigation warning buoy and is located between Holden Beach and Oak Island.

While the vessel’s wreck is roughly 200 feet (61 m) long, only the base of the engine’s exhaust funnel and a small portion of superstructure are visible above water.

The ship is easily reached during low tide by swimming, but the wreck is extensively covered in abandoned fishing hooks and gear that may present potential hazards.

Read More About This Wreck And Watch A Drone Video Of It In Our Related Story Here

John Holden, Benjamin’s grandson, started a commercial fishery on the island and in 1924 surveyed a section which he called Holden Beach Resort, the plat of which represented the first subdivision of beach property in Brunswick County.

In 1925, he built the Holden Beach bridge; it was subsequently destroyed by the Inland Waterway construction. “Mr. Johnny” negotiated with the state of North Carolina for the institution of a public ferry to reach the island, but he did not live to see the ferry begin operation in 1934.

Luther S. Holden, John’s son, operated the old hotel that his father had built, started development of the property nearby and became a permanent resident in 1946. Soon afterwards, John F. Holden (Luther S. Holden’s son) began building other homes and renting them to vacationers.

Some time later, other smaller developments were started west of the ferry location. In the early 1940s one could buy an oceanfront house with the land for about $600. John F. Holden and his wife Johnsie actually began the development of Holden Beach that would slowly become a resort area. The Holdens had two sons, Lyn and J. Alan Holden, the seventh generation of Holdens to live on Holden Beach.

Museum Quality Giclées Prints Of This Painting By Miller Pope Available In Our Islands Art & Books Store Here!

In 1954, the island had about 300 homes and a turnbridge. After that year’s destructive Hurricane Hazel, which hit on Oct. 15, 1954, the rebuilding was slow.

On February 14, 1969, the island was incorporated, and on May 13, 1986, the Town of Holden Beach dedicated a new high-rise steel and concrete bridge, allowing better access to the then more than 1,900 homes on the island.

The one church on the island, the interdenominational Holden Beach Chapel, began as a Bible study in the home of Luther S. Holden and several other resident families on the island. Eventually land was donated and the church was erected in the 1940s.

It was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in 1954 but was rebuilt shortly thereafter. Today the chapel serves the many hundreds who live on and around Holden Beach and the numbers of visitors who vacation on the island during the summer months.

The Town of Holden Beach will celebrate its 50th Anniversary on Thursday, February 14, 2019. The Parks & Recreation Advisory Board is preparing a list of events that will span from Thursday, February 14 – Saturday, February 16.

Join in the fun on February 14th at 2:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Public Assembly to help us get our 50th Anniversary Time Capsule started. Cake and ice cream will be served. Call (910) 842-6488 to pre-register. Pre-registration is required.

Community Social:

Don’t miss a dinner to commemorate Holden Beach history on Saturday, February 16th at 6:00 p.m. An oral history of the Town will be presented at this time.

Immediately following dinner, a bonfire will be held on the beach, weather permitting. Call (910) 842-6488 to pre-register by February 7th at 10:00 a.m.

If you have old photos of Holden Beach that you would like to share please send them to us at info@IslandLifeNC.com.

For more information visit http://www.hbtownhall.com

From the book: Pirates of the Carolinas:

One of the most unusual pirate groups began when young Anne Bonny the daughter of a prominent Charles Town lawyer and plantation owner defied her father and married a young ne’er-do-well.

The newly wedded couple promptly departed for New Providence Island to seek their fortune.

Anne soon tired of married bliss and left her new husband for a dashing pirate, Jack Rackham, known as Calico Jack for his flamboyant clothing.

The two new lovers stole a ship, recruited a crew of ruthless felons and sailed out a pirating upon the bounding main.

Anne’s new profession was much to her liking and  she entered into the bloody fray wielding a cutlass and pistol as well as the best men.

After taking many prizes Anne and Rackham chanced upon a Dutch merchant ship whose crew yielded with little resistance except for one young Englishman who refused to surrender.

Rather than kill him Calico Jack offered him a chance to join the pirate crew. The brave young lad accepted the offer.

Anne and the new pirate quickly became attracted to each other and Jack’s jealousy was aroused to such a degree that he vowed to cut the lad’s throat. Anne intervened and prevented the slaughter by revealing that he was not a he but he was a she!

Mary Read was her name and she had posed as a male almost her entire life. She had even served as a soldier in the English army before having gone to sea.

Mary and Anne fought  more fiercely than any of the  men according to the court records when they were captured but they were not hung with the men because they were both pregnant. Mary died in prison but Anne’s fate is unknown.

Jack Rackham was allowed to see Anne on his way to the gallows. She told him that if “he had fought like a man he would not have to hang like a dog!”

From the book: Pirates of the Carolinas by Miller Pope

Find a selection of pirate books in our Island Life NC Store!

First time visitors to the town of New Bern should be aware that there is only one cola drink to ask for in this town!

The community has a proud history as the Birthplace of Pepsi Cola, and this claim to fame is celebrated at a number of locales around downtown, including the newly built Pepsi Family Center at the North Carolina History Center, (an interactive museum that takes patrons back in time to the year 1835), the innumerable antique stores which showcase pristine old Pepsi bottles, and the signature Pepsi Store.

Any of these attractions are worth taking the time to check out, and visitors should not find it surprising that Pepsi is the star of most local memorabilia, local menus, and drug store soda shops all around the town.

The drink we know as Pepsi-Cola® was first created as “Brad’s Drink” in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham. Mr. Bradham made it at his drugstore where he sold the drink.

In 1898 it was renamed Pepsi-Cola® after the root of the word “dyspepsia” and the kola nuts that were used in the recipe. Caleb Bradham’s original recipe also included sugar and vanilla.

Bradham set out to create a fountain drink that was both appealing and to help with digestion and give an energy boost.

Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola® from his drugstore to a rented warehouse in 1903. That same year, he sold 7,968 gallons of syrup.

By 1904, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, with sales increasing to 19,848 gallons.

The first celebrity endorsement was from automobile racing pioneer Barney Oldfield in 1909. Oldfield called it “A bully drink…refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race.”

“Delicious and Healthful” became Pepsi’s advertising theme and was used continuously for the next twenty years.

Pepsi had its logo redesigned in 1926, the first time it changed since its original design in 1905. It was changed again 1929.

During the worst year of the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola® Company entered into bankruptcy,largely the due to financial losses brought on by speculation on the wildly fluctuating sugar prices that came as a result of World War I.

The assets of Pepsi were sold with the trademark purchased by a gentleman by the name of Roy C. Megargel.

Mr. Megargel was not successful, and Pepsi-Cola®’s assets were soon purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft, Inc.

Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. Loft set out to replace Coca-Cola at the fountains in his stores after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Mr. Guth then had the chemists at Loft’s reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.

Between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola® Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company on three separate occasions. Each time it declined on each occasion.

During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle employing a radio advertising campaign which featured the jingle:

“Pepsi-Cola® hits the spot – Twelve full ounces, that’s a lot -Twice as much for a nickel, too – Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you”.  The jingle was arranged so that it never ends.

Price-conscious consumers were encouraged to switch to Pepsi®, as the Pepsi 12 once bottle was nearly “twice as much” as the standard 6.5 ounce Coca-Cola bottle for the same price of five cents (a nickel). With this campaign during a time of economic crisis, Pepsi was successful in boosting sales. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Cola’s profits doubled!

Up until the 1940s, the full revenue potential of what was called “the Negro market” was largely ignored by white-owned manufacturers in the U.S.

Realizing that blacks were an untapped niche market and that Pepsi stood to gain market share by targeting its advertising directly towards them Pepsi hired Hennan Smith, an advertising executive “from the Negro newspaper field” to lead an all-black sales team, which had to be cut due to the onset of World War II.

In 1947 these efforts resumed with the hiring of Edward F. Boyd to lead a twelve-man team. They came up with advertising portraying black Americans in a positive light, such as one with a smiling mother holding a six pack of Pepsi while her son (a young Ron Brown, who grew up to be Secretary of Commerce) reaches up for one.

Another ad campaign, titled “Leaders in Their Fields”, profiled twenty prominent African Americans such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche and photographer Gordon Parks.

Boyd also led a sales team composed entirely of blacks around the country to promote Pepsi.

Pepsi advertisements avoided the stereotypical images common in the major media that depicted one-dimensional Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Bens. Instead, it portrayed black customers as self-confident middle-class citizens who showed very good taste in their soft drinks. They were economical too, as Pepsi bottles were twice the size.

Today Pepsi or Pepsi-Cola® is a household name recognized throughout the world! One has to wonder what Caleb Bradham would think of the success of the simple tonic conceived in his humble drugstore?

The Birthplace of Pepsi:

Visitors are welcome at The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola Store where they can learn more about the history of its inventor and the early days of one of the world’s favorite soft drinks.

Visit the Birthplace where you can step back in time enjoying a fountain Pepsi or browse through their gifts and souvenirs.

The Birthplace is open Monday through Saturday 10am until 6pm and Sundays 12 noon until 4pm.

Birthplace Of Pepsi 256 Middle Street New Bern, NC 28560 Phone: 252-636-5898 Visit the Website.