Ocean Isle Beach is a popular vacation destination as well a permanent home to 614 people. The area has endured many ups and downs throughout its rich history, shaping it into the bustling and beautiful town that it is today.

One of four barrier islands in Brunswick County, Ocean Isle Beach is located halfway between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. Stretching 8 miles long, it faces due south, a rarity among East Coast beaches, and is on the same latitude as Los Angeles, Calif., and Damascus, Syria. The first inhabitants arrived in about 10,000 BC and were mostly Cape Fear Indians. Eventually scavenging pirates discovered the area as well, but by the early 1700s the world around what is now Ocean Isle Beach began drastically changing as English settlers arrived to forge a more permanent lifestyle with plantations, including Gause Manor, which was part of the tar and turpentine industry. While many believe fire later took Gause Manor, no one knows exactly what happened to the grand home that President George Washington visited on April 27, 1791.

The next notable era in Ocean Isle Beach’s history was the age of Prohibition, when it was illegal to produce, transport, or possess liquor. During the 1920s, sailing vessels often smuggled rum and other spirits from the Bahamas, Jamaica and Canada into Brunswick County via Tubbs Inlet. Even today, you may still find liquor bottles scattered in the woods around town from where locals transferred smuggled alcohol into other containers to avoid arrest. The isolation of this area made this nefarious trade big business until Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933. Also during the 1920s, the first commercial structure on Ocean Isle Beach, a dance hall/honky tonk near the site of the former Gause Manor, marked the Jazz Age and attracted young flappers from as far away as Whiteville who wanted to dance the Charleston and partake in bootlegged gin.

The geography of Ocean Isle Beach, which was known as Hale Beach prior to 1949, changed dramatically in 1934 with the arrival of the Intracoastal Waterway project. Prior to this, the area was not an island and you could easily walk or drive from the mainland to the ocean. The digging of the manmade inland channel carved a barrier island that was only accessible for boat for the next 16 years.

Modern-day Ocean Isle Beach really started to take shape during the late 1940s, when Odell Williamson began purchasing tracts of land that would lay the foundation for the town. Williamson was elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1947 and from there was able to further spearhead Ocean Isle Beach growth. He and his wife Virginia gave the area the name Ocean Isle Beach in 1949. A year later, he built a four-car ferry over the waterway, which operated until 1959 when a swing bridge was completed. This served the island’s transportation needs until 1986, when the current high-rise bridge was constructed in the same spot.

Hurricane Hazel on October 15, 1954, hampered Ocean Isle Beach’s initial progress. The worst hurricane ever to hit the area, Hazel destroyed all but two of the island’s 41 homes and took the lives of seven people riding out the storm there, including Williamson’s sister, her husband, and young son. Four survived, including Williamson’s niece. Due to the timing of the storm coming ashore during the highest tide of the year, the Atlantic Ocean actually met the Intracoastal Waterway and covered the island entirely in water. An article in Our State magazine offers a harrowing and detailed account of this incident.

Despite this tragic setback, development persevered. Williamson constructed the first fishing pier on the island in 1957 and built the offices for Ocean Isle Beach Realty across the street. To make room for a parking lot at the pier, he moved an old duplex to a new lot and converted it to a private, four-bedroom oceanfront cottage, where Virginia spends her time to this day (Odell passed away on October 3, 2010, at the age of 90).

Ocean Isle Beach was incorporated in 1959, and Williamson served as the first mayor from 1959-1963. His wife Virginia later served as mayor from 1969-1973 and daughter LaDane from 1973-1987. LaDane, brother DeCarol, and their families both continue to be active in the family business and throughout Ocean Isle Beach, while Virginia also remains involved.

The Williamsons’ vision for a family beach persists today, and Ocean Isle Beach is more vibrant than ever. It holds more than 3,000 residences, including single-family and condos, with a seasonal population peaking at over 25,000.

Do you want to be part of the story of Ocean Isle Beach’s future? Let Intracoastal Realty be your guide. We are a full-service real estate brokerage operating since 1976, and we currently have 13 offices with over 400 agents and staff to serve Southeastern North Carolina, including the areas of Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, Southport, Oak Island, Ocean Isle Beach, Leland, Hampstead, and Topsail Island.