Southport - Things To Do

When you visit the quiet southern town of Southport, North Carolina, you are in for more than just a relaxing vacation. Southport offers the unique contrast of a town with a rich and vibrant history coupled with a clear vision of the future.

Located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Atlantic Ocean, Southport is a small southern town with a big heart. What this means to visitors, as well as residents, is that it seems there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always time to do nothing.

Southport is like Graceland to antiques shoppers. With 15 antique shops and over 75 dealers, there is something old for everyone. But antiques aren’t the only old things around Southport. Take in the towering live oaks (also technically antiques) that line the sidewalks, as you walk from each unique shop to the next, discovering finds and sniffing the combination of warm, salt air and delicious aromas wafting from the restaurants downtown.

Whether you want to enjoy a romantic evening with that special someone while dining on the water, savor the freshest seafood you may ever put your face around, or just want to devour an unbelievable hot dog while you take in the waterfront, Southport offers a culinary delight for everyone. Southport’s restaurants also offer visitors a chance to get a taste of local knowledge with hardly a franchise in sight. And since nearly all of the restaurants are locally owned and operated, each offers its own distinct spirit, ambiance, and a generous helping of local “flavor.”

If you yearn for days of yore or just enjoy learning a part of our country’s early history, Southport offers a variety of ways to take it all in. The Southport Maritime Museum offers a look back to the mariners of old and how Southport came to be the place it is today. Historical home tours allow the visitor to actually set foot in some of the same houses the people of Southport occupied over two hundred years ago. A trolley ride with an expert guide at the helm is an enjoyable way to increase your knowledge without all that pesky walking. For the more adventurous type, a self-guided tour presents a wonderful opportunity to experience how the past and present overlap in modern day Southport. However you decide to discover Southport, it is an experience you are sure to treasure for a lifetime.

With an abundance of warm, sunny days, Southport presents a myriad of ways to invigorate the soul by getting back to nature and a visit to Waterfront Park offers just that. Spectacular views abound and include beautiful Bald Head Island, Oak Island, including the towering bridge and the famed lighthouse, and water as far as your eye can see. The pier at Waterfront Park introduces even more to do. Magnificent seagulls sail majestically around the water and are always eager for any taste treat. The kids will especially love feeding the birds by the water’s edge and with a good toss you can even watch them dive for the food in the water. Who says entertaining the kids is expensive? If hooking a mighty beast of the sea is more your style, grab your rod and reel and make a beeline for one of many “lucky spots.” Or take the stairs by the pier down to a small, peaceful beach and enjoy skipping shells, splashing in the water, and marveling at the spectacular array of boats floating by.

If there is one thing Southport is known for it’s the annual Fourth of July Festival. Visitors come from near and far to experience the fabulous food, great live music, the Patriotic Parade, and barbecue that will make your taste buds bloom. Of course, every Fourth of July must include fireworks and the display put on is one of the most breathtaking you will ever see. Watching mini bombs explode into vibrant colors and shapes over the water is truly the way fireworks were meant to be experienced.

Whether you come for the calm of the water as far as the eye can see, the natural beauty of the many parks, the enlightening historical tours, or the luscious local cuisine, it is easy to see why more people each year are discovering this unique southern town.

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