Those who live or travel there already knew it was true, but now Ocean Isle Beach has the official title, The South’s Best Tiny Town, according to our friends at Southern Living Magazine.
We can’t really say we disagree, Ocean Isle Beach has it all! Great places to stay, wonderful restaurants, fun attractions, friendly locals, and a great atmosphere for living and vacationing.
The anticipation of crossing over the Ocean Isle bridge is almost palpable, feeling the excitement as you cross over the waterway and try to spot your house before entering the island. The smell of saltwater, sunscreen, and charcoal grills all evoke the feeling of Ocean Isle. It’s a unique place where people and places may change, but the sensation of being there is always the same.
We think the secret to being the best town in the south is being a small beach town, not too big, not too small—just perfect!
Images and Video via Southern Living
Books in the Island Life NC Store:
Ocean Isle Beach: A History and Remembrance |Â BUY IT HERE $21.95
This book is about an eight-mile barrier island on the Atlantic coast. It faces due south, on the same latitude as Los Angeles, California and Damascus, Syria. The island enjoys a mild climate and its oceanfront consists entirely of sandy beach. It wasn’t an island until 1934 when it was severed from the mainland by the construction of a section of the Intracoastal Waterway.Â
What is now Ocean Isle, slept in solitude for hundreds of years, disturbed only by a visit in 1791 of George Washington on his Southern Tour and by the U. S. Coast Guard’s mounted sailors who patrolled the island’s beach in WWll. In the 1920s, the long repose ended with an awakening by prohibition and the jazz age. Young flappers expended energy dancing the Charleston and imbibing bootlegged gin in Ocean Isle’s first commercial structure, a honky-tonk on the island’s welcoming beach.
Ocean Isle Gem of the Atlantic Coast – Full Color Coffee Table Edition | BUY IT HERE $24.95
Escape to the sandy shores and salty air with a celebration of Ocean Isle Beach: The beauty of Ocean Isle’s beaches, marshes, canals & laid-back lifestyle in rich full color photography. See the featured homes, parks, shops and attractions of this hidden gem we know as Ocean Isle Beach, NC! Buy this hard cover, high quality, full-color coffee table edition and take home a piece of this treasured island and have the beach with you all year long!