Bring the family and have some fun! Magic Mountain Fun Park has something for everyone including miniature golf, a Super-Track Go-Cart Raceway, an indoor arcade, an ice cream shop with over 30 flavors, and a water park with 3 adult water slides and 2 kid’s water slides!

The park is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day from 10am to 6pm. The park is closed on Sundays. You can find Magic Mountain Fun Park located on the Causeway at Holden Beach, 3996 Holden Beach Rd. The phone number for Magic Mountain is 910-842-2727.

It’s strawberry time! Holden Brother’s Produce and Indigo Farm’s strawberries are ripe for the picking. From April 1st until early June the strawberry fields are open for pick-your-own groups.  They take groups of any size out to their enormous strawberry fields armed with buckets and let them go to town.

There’s no better way to enjoy juicy strawberries this time of year than by picking your own.  It’s a fun way to get family and friends together for a good old-fashioned time.

Holden Brother’s is located at 5600 Ocean Hwy, Ocean Isle Beach, NC. (910) 579-4500. You can visit their website at http://www.holdenbrothersfarmmarket.com/

Indigo Farms is located at 2000 Highway 57 North, Little River, SC. (843) 399-6902. You can visit their website at http://www.indigofarmsmarket.com/

The stars shine brighter at Ingram Planetarium (25 minutes from Holden Beach at Sunset Beach, NC) with the recent installation of the world’s third SciDome HD Digital projection system.

Relax in the Sky Theater’s seats as you zoom through space to Jupiter and look back toward Earth.

After the Planetarium staff point out the constellations and planets on the Sky Theater dome, locate them on your evening beachwalk. Ingram Planetarium has great star shows, laser music shows, and programs about astronomy, science, and space exploration.

Programs and schedules change seasonally. The SciDome HD Digital Sky Theater simulates a perfectly dark, starry night and it is unsafe to move around during the shows. Late arrivals are not admitted to the theater. Groups should call for reservations and instructions.

During the busy summer season The Planetarium offers fun family activities on various topics.

What visitors have enjoyed in the past included:
Assembling space shuttle replicas
Building & launching rockets
Lessons on Solar Energy
Putting together a Rainbow Maker
Making a real Comet
Lesson with Solar Furnace
Using our Solar Telescope
Shadow Drawings

In the Paul Dennis Science Hall they offer projects to challenge children of all ages as well:

Building solar cars was a favorite last summer

Located at:
The Village at Sunset Beach
7625 High Market Street
Sunset Beach, NC 28468

http://www.museumplanetarium.org 

Located on Highway 17, just about a half mile south of the entrance road to Ocean Isle Beach, The Holden Brothers Farm Market is a great place to check out any time of year. But especially in the spring! [Read more...]

Just up highway 17 to Wilmington is the immortal showboat, the USS North Carolina.

She survived every major pacific naval offensive of World War II and earned 15 battle stars. The USS North Carolina Battleship was brought to the Cape Fear River in 1961 by the citizens of NC as a memorial to all the men and women who served in WWII.

The self-guided tour includes an orientation film, crew’s quarters, galley, sick bay, engine room, pilot house, guns, Kingfisher float plan and more. The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA is open every day of the year, including all holidays, as the ship is a memorial.

Summer Hours: Open Every Day! (Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day) are 8 am – 8 pm. EXCEPT Independence Day when the ship closes at 6:00 pm to prepare for fireworks. Winter Hours (After Labor Day weekend through Thursday prior to Memorial Day weekend) 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, EXCEPT Christmas Day when the ship opens at noon. Admission is charged. 910-251-5797,

Indigo Farms is a family farm that goes back six generations on this land. Besides being a Century Farm it has some rather interesting history of its own. The Bellamy family has its roots in this area since John Bellamy settled in 1766. With relatives including Vaughts, Vereens and Gores its past is intertwined with much of the history in Horry and Brunswick counties. Dr. Bellamy who built and owned the Bellamy Mansion in Wilmington was a descendant of the family. The history of the farm is tied to many happenings only a few miles from the farm.
The name of the farm comes from the run. It is documented that indigo was one of the crops grown right in this area. After the decline of indigo production by the colonies, indigo was commonly grown for personal use. Mr. Ben Thompkins used to grow it in the early 20th century. For more history of indigo we encourage you to come to Farm Heritage Day (held on the first Saturday in October) not only learn more but also to see the dye being used. Indigo Farms continues to grow the plants on the farm.

Indigo Farms features a barnyard to give the public a chance to get up close to and enjoy farm animals. They have a variety of animals ranging from chickens and peacocks, to goats, sheep and pigs. The Farm also has hayrides, blueberry, blackberry, peach, grape, asparagus, and strawberry fields, a greenhouse with several different plants both native and exotic, bee hives used to produce local honey and so much more.

At Indigo farms you be a part of the fun too, by picking your own strawberries in the fields! You can also take home some of the produce from the Farmer’s Market found inside. They offer all types of produce grown on the farm and lots of Southern specialties including honey off the farm, grits, ham, arugula, dandelion, squash, specialty relishes, sauces, jams or salad dressings.

And if that doesn’t entice you then you can wander over to the bakery for some homemade treats! They have everything from blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, cherry, pecan, apple and strawberry rhubarb pies to peach pound cake. They’ve got éclairs, strawberry shortcake, fresh fruit smoothies, milkshakes, homemade cookies, cakes and fresh breads too. Not to mention they also have lots of homemade ice cream too!

So come down to Indigo Farms this spring, there’s something for everyone down here!

Indigo Farms is located at 1542 Hickman Road Northwest, Calabash, NC 28467. For more information visit their website http://www.indigofarmsmarket.com/

 

If you think museums are stuffy, quiet places that people visit for research, contemplation, or when there’s nothing else to do, then you haven’t visited North Carolina’s only natural history museum on a barrier island. New exterior murals predict some of the things you’ll see inside the Museum of Coastal Carolina at nearby Ocean Isle Beach (15 minutes from Sunset Beach, NC).

Happy, interactive voices are encouraged! One might hear toddlers calling out “Boat, Daddy, boat!” as they climb into the wooden strip boat made here in Brunswick County. Staff and volunteers often hear “Whoa!” when visitors approach the shark jaw exhibit. Carolina residents track their local rivers to the sea and parents teach their young children to keep the beach clean and protect the animals from trash as they pass the Litterbug Hall of Shame.

Imagine getting up close to the area wildlife on display in the Green Swamp diorama. Then touch or hold a sea star, an urchin, or a hermit crab at the touch tank. Learn the inside story of shells at the newly updated Carolina Shells and Fossils exhibit. Don’t forget to bring your beach treasures to identify.

Hear “oohs and aahs” as you take a walk through the Ocean Reef Gallery that depicts a reef habitat about 65 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The toddler area in the Barrier Island Gallery has puppets, toy ocean animals, puzzles, and lots of happy noise. Then there’s silent awe at the Legacy of the Loggerhead sea turtle exhibit’s short video filmed on Ocean Isle Beach about the life cycle of the loggerhead turtle that includes a mother turtle laying eggs and the hatchlings crawling to the sea.

In the Coastal Plain, visitors exclaim “Wow!” when they see the American bald eagle up close and eye-to-eye. Identify the shorebirds you saw on Brunswick beaches. Children like to pretend they are a coyote or a bear with the pelts thrown over their shoulders. Fisherman are heard to exclaim that they learned to fish with a bamboo rod just like the one in the antique fishing equipment exhibit.

A visit to the Museum of Coastal Carolina is a treat for the young and the young at heart. Many vacationers include it as a multi-generational activity for the whole family. Local residents know that it is one of Brunswick County’s best family activities.

Summer afternoon family programs are held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday—Friday from June 14 through August 20. The programs include Know Your Knots on Monday, “What Kinda Fish Is That, Mister?” on Tuesday, Seven Steps to Shoreline Safety & the Firetruck on Wednesday, Megabites! on Thursday, and Touch Tank Feeding and Shell ID on Friday.

Evening programs are Ghost Lore and Legend Walk on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Snakes Alive! on Thursday at 7 p.m. Come early to tour the Museum before the program. Family vacation passes with unlimited Museum visits for one week are available for $49. (Family vacation passes are for a family that resides together year-round, not multi-generational families vacationing together. The Plus membership may be a better value for multi-generational families.) Annual memberships are also available.

The Museum of Coastal Carolina is located at 21 East Second Street, Ocean Isle Beach beside the playground and just a block from the beach and the pier. Enjoy coastal natural history . . . for the fun of it! Summer hours are June 1—September 4 on Monday, Tuesday, Friday & Saturday from 10—5, Wednesday and Thursday from 10—8:30 and closed Sunday. All-day admission includes programs. $8 for adults, $6 for senior adults 60 & over, $6 students K-12 & College ID, and $4 Preschool ages 3-5, Ages 2 & under are free. Check http://www.museumplanetarium.org  or call 910.579.1016 for further information.
For educational and entertaining gifts and toys, visit Nature’s Treasures Gift Shop at the Museum or Galaxy Gifts at the Planetarium.

Come to the beach and take in some history at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson Historic Site and Orton Plantation. [Read more...]

This year Wilmingtonians could scarcely traverse a few city blocks without running into one of those yellow crew posters, a sure sign a movie or TV project was underway nearby.

Feature films including “Iron Man 3” and “Safe Haven” wrapped after months of shooting; the television drama “Revolution,” starring Billy Burke and Giancarlo Esposito, launched this summer; and a slew of other made-in-Wilmington films are due for a 2013 release.

As of December, nearly 20 productions spent an estimated $230 million in Southeastern North Carolina this year. “Iron Man 3” is thought to have spent at least $80 million, said Wilmington Regional Film Commission Director Johnny Griffin, who credits the state’s tax incentives for productions for the year’s busy season.

Here, we take a look at the region’s banner year in filmmaking, from A to Z.

Action: If “Iron Man 3” puts Wilmington on the map for action films, other crews, such as the drivers on the independent faith-based film “Adrenaline” and the stunt team behind NBC’s “Revolution,” are sure to up the ante. In addition, stunt coordinators with “We’re the Millers” successfully flipped a Winnebago, while pyrotechnic specialists burned down a general-store set for “Safe Haven.” In the spring we even produced “American Warships,” a knock-off of summer’s big-screen action flop, “Battleship.”

Blackout: NBC’s “Revolution,” from Supernatural creator Eric Kripke and executive producer J.J. Abrams, follows a family trying to survive 15 years after all electronic equipment stops working. Cast members include Billy Burke, Tracy Spiridakos, Elizabeth Mitchell and Giancarlo Esposito. The production, which began filming here in early July after filming its pilot in Georgia, took a midseason break Nov. 26. It will air new episodes again in March at 10 p.m. Mondays.

Casting: It was a busy year for area casting agents. Longtime Wilmington casting directors Craig and Lisa Mae Fincannon won an Emmy for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series for their work on Showtime’s “Homeland,” which is produced in Charlotte. Other casting partnerships included: Tona Dahlquist and “Iron Man 3,” Alexis Allen and “We’re the Millers,” Marty Siu and “Heart of the Country,” and Vanessa Neimeyer and “A Short History of Decay.”

Digital: After more than 120 years, 35 mm film is officially on the way out. As digital takes over, many in the film industry mourn the death of film, but producing a digital print is far cheaper for filmmakers, giving them a shot at distribution, said local freelance camera operator Joe D’Alessandro. “It’s a frontier situation right now,” D’Alessandro said. “Though they’d probably have a smaller audience, it would be great if more people can make smaller films for less.” The digital format helped visiting independent filmmaker Michael Maren get “A Short History of Decay” off the ground this fall in Wrightsville Beach.

Extras: Background actors were in high demand this year, especially for series such as “Revolution,” which regularly hired them to appear as militia, and “Safe Haven,” which called on 500 people to be a part of an Independence Day parade filmed this August in Southport. “Iron Man 3” asked its extras to sign confidentiality agreements, while “We’re the Millers” invited extras to attend a faux state fair, complete with Ferris wheel, games and popcorn, near Brunswick Forest.

Film incentives: In the two years since enhanced film incentives were approved by the General Assembly, the amount of money spent on productions in the state jumped significantly. In 2011, productions spent about $240 million in the state, up from $75 million spent in 2010. Productions that spend at least $250,000 in the state are eligible for tax credits worth 25 percent of their “qualifying expenses.” The per-project cap for credits is $20 million, but TV series aren’t subject to the cap. Production companies also don’t have to pay the 6.9 percent corporate income tax on film tax credits they receive. For “highly compensated individuals,” such as actors, the production can claim the tax credit only on the first $1 million of pay. The package is set to expire at the end of 2014.

GMC: Once the Gospel Music Channel, the family-friendly network has been quietly filming a large portion of its programming with the help of Wilmington production company Swirl Films. The filmmakers have developed about a dozen of GMC’s productions here in the past few years, according to CEO Eric Tomosunas. This year, productions included “Community Service,” which is set to air in February; “For Richer or Poorer,” a six-episode series that will air after the New Year; and the TV movie “Somebody’s Child.”

HBO: The pay-cable network has been a fixture in the Cape Fear region since the screwball comedy “Eastbound and Down” began filming here in 2008. That series wrapped filming its third season here in February and is expected to begin filming its fourth season in the region in February 2013. In June, the HBO-owned Cinemax popped up at Wrightsville Beach to shoot scenes for its Charlotte-based new drama, “Banshee.” And HBO’s film division was in Wilmington and Southport in July to film a TV movie about an American and an English woman brought together by the shared tragedy of losing sons to malaria. “Mary and Martha,” starring Hilary Swank, Brenda Blethyn and James Woods, will air in 2013.

“Iron Man 3”: A nearly year-long battle to attract and successfully create Wilmington’s largest movie production ever came to an end in November. The Marvel Studios/Disney production kicked off shooting May 23 at EUE/Screen Gems Studios and filmed at such locations as the Port of Wilmington, New Hanover Regional Medical Center and the Cape Fear River. The production, whose budget was more than $200 million, hired more than 2,500 crew members, according to the N.C. Film Office. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle, the film hits theaters May 3.

Jennifers: Hollywood East was flooded with well-known Jennifers this year. Jennifer Aniston put the Port City on the map when she got engaged in August to Justin Theroux while filming “We’re the Millers,” in which she plays a stripper posing as a drug dealer’s wife. Earlier in the year, Jennifer Carpenter, of “Dexter” fame, played an Amish woman in “The Occult,” which filmed here in Apil. And Jennifer Connelly (“House of Sand and Fog”) starred alongside Greg Kinnear as a recently divorced couple in the independent comedy “Stuck in Love,” which filmed here in March under the name “Writers.”

Kingsley: Academy-Award-winning actor Ben Kingsley was one of a handful of “Iron Man 3” stars to pop up at well-known Wilmington spots during filming of the action flick. Kingsley, who plays villain “The Mandarin” in the production, took a private tour of the Battleship North Carolina in October. The 68-year-old Brit was doing research for a film about a World War I naval battle.

Locations: From a church scene at Airlie Garden’s Lebanon Chapel for the indie “Heart of the Country” (which filmed here in March) to a stake burning at Bellevue Cemetery for “Witches of East End,” Southeastern North Carolina will be on display on the big and small screen in the coming months. Popular filming spots this year have included the former Brunswick County Community Hospital (“Adrenaline,” “We’re the Millers”), Wilmington’s Forest Hills neighborhood (“Stuck in Love,” “Iron Man 3”), the Historic New

Hanover County Courthouse (“Mary and Martha,” “Community Service”) and the former Ideal Cement Plant in Castle Hayne, which was been tapped as a location by “Revolution” for at least a half a dozen shoots.

Money: In July, “Iron Man 3” stunt crews glided to the Earth from aboard helicopters on Oak Island with help from Southport’s Skydive Coastal Carolinas. The film’s star, Robert Downey Jr., was met by the fragrant blooms of bouquets from Julia’s Florist at his Figure Eight Island rental home this summer. The companies were just a few of the scores of area businesses to benefit from the production, which state film officials estimate infused $89 million into the local economy.

Nimble: The guys at Swirl Films – Eric Tomosunas, David Eubanks and Keith Neal – often work at breakneck speed to churn out an hour of story per day, a typical shoot for the 15-year-old production company that filmed multiple projects for the GMC cable channel this year. A network drama series such as “Revolution” takes more than a week to produce a one-hour episode.

“One Tree Hill”: The long-running CW TV show did not film in Wilmington this year (its series finale aired April 4), but plenty of its former cast members did. Daniella Alonso, who played Anna Taggaro during the drama’s second season, co-stars on NBC’s “Revolution” as Nora, a feisty rebel fighter with a penchant for blowing things up. This spring, Jana Kramer (Alex on “OTH” ) played Faith, the lead role in the John Ward drama, “Heart of the Country.” Bryan Greenberg (Jake on “OTH”) was back in town in October for “A Short History of Decay,” a small independent film about a family struggling with a mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. And locally produced indie “Don’t Know Yet” tapped Lisa Goldstein-Kirsch (Millicent on “OTH”) to play a lead role in the comedic drama about a heartbroken man who’s seeking the answers to a meaningful life by giving rides to hitchhikers.

Paltrow: During the filming of “Iron Man 3” this summer, Gwyneth Paltrow and co-star Robert Downey Jr. developed a craving for fresh seafood and were return guests to Catch restaurant on Market Street in Wilmington. But Paltrow took her love for culinary arts to the next level. It didn’t take much for the actress to convince Catch chef and owner Keith Rhodes to give her a cooking lesson, which she detailed in her lifestyle blog, Goop.com.

Questions: Despite a move to extend the state’s film incentive program to the end of 2014, state and local film industry leaders remain worried that a tax-reform effort Republican General Assembly leaders have promised to undertake in the 2013-14 session could threaten the industry’s long-term goals. Union leaders and film crews have said they will focus their efforts in 2013 on educating new lawmakers on the job gains the state has made since sweetening its film incentive program.

Repurposed: NBC’s post-apocalyptic “Revolution” set up shop in Wilmington after its pilot episode filmed in Atlanta for a simple reason: locations. Unlike some TV series that return to the same soundstage sets weekly, “Revolution” has few standing sets. Instead, its scouts, set designers and construction crews have to search out, envisage and create a world that nature has reclaimed. The process keeps crews on their feet, said location scout Vick Griffin. “What’s unique to the ‘Revolution’ world is that everything must be repurposed,” he said. “We need a coffee shop, but then we need to turn it into a rebel base. We’re creating the period as we go along.”

Southport: “Safe Haven” is hardly the first motion picture to film in Southport. It’s not even the first feature film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel to shoot there. Portions of Sparks’ “Nights in Rodanthe” were shot locally and on the EUE/Screen Gems Studio lot. And Southport stood in for Beaufort, N.C., in the movie version of “A Walk to Remember.” But Southport is not just where the movie filmed – it’s part of the cast. Filmmakers are estimated to have spent $15 to $20 million in the region while shooting this past summer, according to the N.C. Film Office. Now, the Brunswick County community has high hopes that the film’s stars – Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and David Lyons – will help attract visitors long after the film’s Feb. 14 release.

Thrillers: Thrill seekers will have a lot to scream about next year. Four supernatural horror thrillers filmed in Hollywood East this year, beginning with director James Wan’s “The Conjuring” in March. The thriller, written by Chad and Carey Hayes (“House of Wax”), is based on the real-life experiences of couple Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who worked as psychic investigators during the 1970s. Next, “The Occult,” a horror film that follows five girls born – and cursed – in a devout village, made use of rural Pender County locations such as the Universalist Unitarian Camp at Shelter Neck in April. In “Jessabelle,” a Principato Young Entertainment production that also filmed here in April, Australian actress Sarah Snook battles an angry ghost determined to destroy her. Way less creepy of a story is Lifetime’s pilot “Witches of East End,” about a family of witches forced to suppress their mystical abilities for centuries. The pilot filmed here in October.

Unions: Crews from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE, local 491, and Teamsters Local 391 were put to work on a variety of productions this year. Meanwhile, a merger between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists was expected to improve representation for the state’s approximately 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members.

Vassar: The production of Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” made 2012 a banner year for EUE/Screen Gems Studios and its executive vice president Bill Vassar. For the first time in the Wilmington studio’s 16-year history, all of its sound stages were full for nearly the entire year, Vassar said. The successful production of “Iron Man 3” will set Screen Gems apart, Vassar said. “It’s like we were playing ball with the New York Yankees,” he said. “We had to step up our game. We learned to deal with productions on a whole different level.”

Warner Bros.: Three of the Port City’s largest productions this year hail from the entertainment monolith, which was familiar with our area after making nine seasons of “One Tree Hill” here. Two of the company’s 13 feature films set for 2013 release – “The Conjuring” and “We’re the Millers” – filmed here, while “Revolution,” an adventure thriller from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, will resume filming in the area in early January. “Conjuring” hits theaters July 19, while “Millers” premieres Aug. 9.

X-rays: Wilmington’s favorite superhero Robert Downey Jr. likely had them after he was injured in August while performing a stunt on set. The incident set back the production about eight weeks. After his recovery, the actor performed helicopter maneuvers amid machine-gun fire and smoke at the Port of Wilmington.

Young stars: A slew of talented young actors visited the Port City for this first time this year. Logan Lerman (“3:10 to Yuma”) and Nat Wolff (“The Naked Brothers Band”) appeared alongside Liana Liberato (“Trust”) and Lily Collins (“Mirror Mirror”) in “Stuck in Love.” Child star Mackenzie Foy (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2”) played younger sister to Shanley Caswell (“Detention”), Hayley McFarland (“Lie to Me”) and Joey King (“Ramona and Beezus”) in “The Conjuring.” Will Poulter (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”), Emma Roberts (“Scream 4”) and Molly Quinn (“Castle”) played opposite Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis in “We’re the Millers.” Here’s to hoping Wilmywood made a good impression.

Zoppe: It had been nearly five years since Dennis Zoppe, a key grip, worked in Wilmington. Until now. In late 2011, the 59-year-old Wilmington resident left his post on Lifetime’s “Army Wives” in Charleston to come home to film “Arthur Newman,” a movie about a golf pro (Colin Firth) who’s trying to remake his life. Since then, the film work hasn’t stopped, Zoppe said. “Things heated up when the incentives passed, and now there’s work at home. Before that, the only thing in town was ‘One Tree Hill,’ ” he said. “I’ve been working steady all this year.” He started the year as rigging key on “The Conjuring” and finished it as key grip on the second unit of “Iron Man 3.” Among other shoots, his “Iron Man” crew staged explosions at the Port of Wilmington and filmed stunt crews dangling over the Cape Fear River downtown. “We got to do all the fun stuff. It was the biggest show I’ve ever worked on,” he said. The past year was so busy, Zoppe said, he had trouble finding a crew for the Marvel production. On the upside, he hired a few interns whom he helped learn the ropes. As for next year, the key grip says three or four projects should keep him afloat. “You’d love to go from one show to the next, but it rarely happens that way,” he said. “You really can’t tell you’re good until the production office opens and you’ve got that paycheck in your hand. Then you can say, ‘OK, I’ve got a job.’ ”

 

-Courtesy of the Star News

 

While Hurricane Sandy caused devastation to most of the Northeast, the Southeast experienced a much less severe storm. But the storm still managed to unearth a piece of buried history in Surf City, on Topsail Island.

A section of the William H. Sumner, a three-masted schooner whose young captain died under suspicious circumstances after running the ship aground in 1919, has been protruding from the sand a short distance from the Dolphin Street beach access.

The wreckage is a chunk of the ship that floated ashore when the Coast Guard blasted the vessel shortly after it ran aground, to remove the navigation hazard.

At least part of the 489-ton, 165-foot ship is believed to be resting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near the southern end of the island. Erosion caused by strong coastal storms routinely exposes what has been identified as a side portion of the ship. This piece has been there for quite a while, and should ideally remain there underneath the sand, being naturally preserved that way. The wreckage is only visible at certain periods of low tide.

A large frame of the ship that once rested on the shore is in the state archaeology lab in Fort Fisher. The frame was moved to the lab after a group of fishermen was caught trying to illegally remove it from the beach about a year ago.

The state claims all abandoned shipwrecks still in the water. Surf City Mayor Zander Guy said when the wreckage was initially exposed more than 10 years ago it was a public safety concern. Large iron bolts used to hold the ship’s frame together eventually erode into spikes – a potential hazard to beachgoers. The state can permit beach towns to relocate and re-bury ship wreckage.

For the most part, beach towns leave the artifacts in place, giving a residents and visitors a rare glimpse of the past outside of museum walls.

The Sumner is a valuable resource unique to Surf City since most shipwrecks on the North Carolina coast are in the Outer Banks.

Archaeologists have studied the ship, a “heavily-built” vessel that hauled lumber and phosphate rock for about 30 years. On Sept. 7, 1919, it was sailing precariously close to the shore, catching the attention of swimmers and sunbathers at Wrightsville Beach.

Shortly after it ran aground, the Sumner’s 24-year-old captain was dead. His ship’s mate, Charles L. Lacey, claimed that his boss, Robert E. Cockram, shot himself to death. This was Cockram’s first command after a promotion only two weeks before.

But evidence pointed to foul play, and Lacey was charged with murder. He was convicted of the crime but later acquitted in an appeal.