Old Baldy— Bald Head Island

I’ve spent a lot of time on the coasts of North and South Carolina. Most of the last 65 summers I’ve been down there. But one thing I have never done, until last June, was take the ferry and go visit Bald Head Island. In the 60s, back at the dawn of time, when I was in high school, I was in an environmental group called ECOS. We wanted to prevent the development of various of our pristine barrier islands, including Bald Head Island. We lost that battle to Cousin Jesse=Sen. Jesse Helms. The island is still there, and is the playground for the rich, but at least they have done the development with some care for the environment. Most of the island is still myrtle thicket, and crape myrtle and oleander. So…. my wife Ann, my sister Laura and my Mom and myself got on the ferry….

and headed on over. You see a lot of things along the way—-

And when you get there….

There are always crabs around…..but this next picture is not of crabs… that’s my 90 year old Mom and my sis… Laura.
And of course the beautiful marsh….

But other than the flora and fauna, the oldest thing on the island is the lighthouse.

Most people get around on golf carts, and there is exactly one grocery store, and workers on the island take the ferry everyday. While I was there, I heard the story about a wealthy NY couple who sold their mansion up north, and built a palatial place on Bald Head. My interlocutor told me, you’d see them riding all over the island all the time in a golf court. Basically they got claustrophobia and had to leave. The small island life is not for everyone, and certainly not for me. But it was fun to visit. It proved that old adage… nice place to visit but……