Bald Head Island, NC

Bald Head Island, historically Smith Island, sits at the east side of the Cape Fear River where the river meets the Atlantic. The name can be misleading: the old Corncake Inlet filled after Hurricane Floyd in 1999, so the village’s geography is tied to a former water gap as much as to the beach. A passenger ferry from Southport is the usual arrival, while Fort George recalls the Revolutionary era and Old Baldy keeps the maritime history visible. Three beaches and a broad marsh edge shape the map. The local shorthand is Cape Fear, ferry, lighthouse, and shifting sand.