Wrightsville Beach
The Iconography of Wrightsville Beach
One of the most iconic images from Wrightsville Beach is the Lumina Pavilion. This music and dance hall drew in thousands of visitors beginning in 1905, and as such, featured heavily in postcard advertisements for the area. The original 70'x70' dance floor and stage seated 400, where Vaudeville movies, dance revues, opera, and a skating rink drew many visitors looking for a vacation getaway. The Pavilion featured thousands of lights, viewable miles away - befitting to the Lumina name. In 1909, the ownership added an additional 25,000, doubling the ballroom. In 1913, an open-air movie theater and waterslides increased attractions available to the area. During the era of the Great Depression, an amplification system brought sound to new heights beginning in 1932.
Another often recognized image from Wrightsville Beach is the Oceanic. In 1938, construction began on the 900' pier named Mira Mar – today known as the Oceanic Pier and restaurant.
Improvements not only increased tourist interest, but provided jobs for thousands of workers through the Depression, in both the construction and service industries.
Wrightsville Beach iconography showcases the fun awaiting adults both in attractions, as well as natural resources.
Access Improvements
Prior to 1934, a two-lane wooden bridge over Banks Channel provided the only access into Wrightsville Beach. On July 12, 1934, the state purchased a private toll highway for $65,000, allowing access for free automobile traffic. By 1935, construction of a causeway extension from Harbor Island to Wrightsville Beach began, facilitated by Works Progress Administration funds. Federal allocation of funds also allowed for paving on North Lumina Avenue, along with Waynick and Columbia Street.
Dredging for the Wrightsville Beach portion of the Intracoastal Waterway occurred between 1925 and 1930. This waterway provided a means for shipping and recreational boat travel. Federal funds grants established programs for erosion control, including placement of 16 wooden jetties every 1000' in hopes to protect beach assets.
These improvements and ease of access enticed visitors to vacation at Wrightsville Beach, while presenting a community focused on entertainment, recreation, and well-maintained facilities. Investing New Deal funds into road purchase, bridge building, and erosion control projects ensured Wrightsville Beach of an excellent standard of quality.
Fire of 1934 and Works Project Adminstration Funds
On January 28, 1934, a devastating fire ripped through Wrightsville Beach, originating at Kitty Cottage By the Sea boarding house. Despite valiant efforts by the Wrightsville Beach Bucket Brigade and Wheel Cart Fire Department of the era, the fire raged; spurred on by a violent northerly wind blowing in excess of 80 miles per hour. All told, 103 hotels, cottages, and homes burned, along with protective dune vegatation. The exact cause of the fire remains undetermined.
The Federal Civil Works Administration stepped in to assist the Wrightsville Beach community along the process of rebuilding the community as an area in need of great financial assistance to continue providing recreational opportunities to visitors. Partnered with Tidewater Power, and local business owners, this collaboration rallied around those who suffered losses due to the fire. Cottages, inns, and restaurants rebuilt, and by Spring tourist season of 1935, Wrightsville Beach was again open for business.
Choice of Activities Keep Visitors Returning and Locals in Steady Employment
Perhaps Wrightsville Beach celebrated the grand post fire rebuilding by continuing community celebration! In the 1930s, the Wrightsville Water Fete began, where the best decorated cottage won a prize and free advertising. Water circuses drew tremendous crowds, as did dance contests and "mermaid capture" events.
January 1935 ushered in the beginning of another Wrightsville Beach icon, Johnnie Mercer’s pier. Floyd Cox Sr. received the first fishing pier permit to build, and piers began serving visitors in 1938. Sport fishing became a popular tourist attraction in the previous decade, offering the urban worker a means for inexpensive recreation. Fishing boats, launched from the Wrightsville Beach marina, also brought fishermen visitors into the area. Fishing for Spanish mackerel, trout, bluefish, and sea bass could melt one’s cares and stresses from urban life and mechanized jobs away. The ocean air and mild breezes were the cure all to weary souls, and as such were touted as an aid to rheumatism and bronchial tube trouble during the Great Depression era.
Perhaps the greatest advertisement of the coast could be the food. When visitors came to the beach to enjoy seafood, all businesses succeeded. What, which lightly seasoned shrimp, snapper, pompano, locally harvested oysters, gumbo, clams, and crab – it is no wonder that one advertiser touted “seafood is perfection itself!”
