Topsail Island

Topsail Island

Topsail Island is a barrier island about 30 minutes north of Wilmington, NC. It has three towns, North Topsail Beach, Surf City, and Topsail Beach. Legend has it that in the late 1600s and early 1700s, the island became known to merchant ship captains traveling up and down the Atlantic. Pirates, including the infamous Blackbeard, launched their attacks from behind the island. The merchant captains learned to look toward the sound beyond the island’s beaches to outrun the looters trying to emerge from the island’s shallow inlets. These sightings of the tops of the pirate’s sails led to the island’s name

Learn more about Topsail Island’s history from the Historical Society of Topsail Island at topsailhistoricalsociety.org