The field trip guide outlined below will provide a fun and informative visit to Oak Island, North Carolina. Along the way you will see historic sites, eroded shorelines, beautiful beaches, the effects of Hurricane Floyd, the impact of development, and many more interesting features of this family-oriented island. There are two towns on the island, the The Town of Caswell Beach and the The Town of Oak Island which was formed July 1, 1999 with the merger of the Town of Yaupon Beach and the Town of Long Beach.  To learn more about Oak Island, visit the Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce  website.  

     To begin the field trip tour, follow Highway 133 south from Wilmington, North Carolina. Remember, the Atlantic coast beaches on Oak Island are on the south side of the island with the north side boundary being the estuary and the Atlantic Intracoastal Water Way. The east point of the island ends at the Cape Fear River, and the west end of the island stops at Lockwood Folly Inlet.

     After crossing the bridge onto the island, proceed to the traffic light at the intersection of Yaupon Drive and Country Club Drive. Highway 133 ends here. Before continuing, set the odometer to zero at the traffic light. Continue straight on Country Club Drive/Caswell Beach Road into the Town of Caswell Beach. At odometer reading 0.5 miles, the Oak Island golf course will be on your left.

     After traveling 0.9 miles the road will pass extremely close to the beach. This is an area of severe erosion, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation has built the artificial dune between the road and the beach. The dune is underlain with sand bags placed there following Hurricane Bonnie in 1998. Chronic erosion rates as high as six feet annually continue to erode the beach in this area. Continue to odometer reading 1.4 miles. This section of Caswell Beach Road was washed away by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Again, NCDOT has built a dune to protect the road.

     Continuing to odometer reading 1.6 miles, turn right into the public beach access area. To the north is a large blue building that houses the CP&L pump station. It pumps water from the CP&L Nuclear power plant in Southport under the island where it is dumped into the Atlantic Ocean about 2000 feet offshore. Walking to the west along this stretch of beach, black peat layers and a occasional tree stump may be found at low tide. This evidence suggests that a forested area and then a younger salt marsh once occupied the beach’s current position. The narrow dunes are covered with a variety of plants including sea oats, camphorweed, yucca, red cedar, goldenrod, smilax, and other plants.

     Continuing east on Caswell Beach Road, the Oak Island Lighthouse and U. S. Coast Guard Station will be on the left at odometer reading 2.8 miles. Across from the lighthouse is one of the few remaining areas where the oceanfront dunes are relatively undisturbed.

     Continuing east to odometer reading 3.2 miles, the road ends at the North Carolina Baptist Assembly located on the historic site of Fort Caswell. Beyond the remains of the fort, the eastern end of Oak Island is prograding and ends in a recurved spit where a well established dune field is present. From this vantage point at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the City of Southport can be seen to the North, and Bald Head Island lies across the river to the southeast. Here the Cape Fear River provides entrance to the Wilmington harbor, one of the two commercial ports in North Carolina.  To learn more about the Wilmington harbor and the dredging project, visit the US Army Corps of Engineers website and follow the outline to the Wilmington District Links. maintains the entrance channel to the port, and sand dredged from this area in 2001 will be placed on the beaches of Bald Head Island, Caswell Beach, Oak Island, and part of Holden Beach.

     After visiting Fort Caswell retrace the route back to the traffic light at the intersection of Country Club Drive and Yaupon Drive. Reset the odometer to zero at the traffic light and turn left onto Yaupon Drive (from this point on, the odometer mileage will be shown in parenthesis at each landmark). Continue west on Yaupon Drive and turn left on Barbee Boulevard (0.5 miles). This area is part of the old mainland beach of Oak Island in the former town of Yaupon Beach. Traveling south on Barbee Boulevard, notice the how the homes have been built amongst the live oaks and other trees of the maritime forest. At the end of Barbee Boulevard, visit Yaupon Beach Park (0.8 miles) and find an excellent view of the Yaupon Beach Pier. Notice the construction rubble on the beach around the buildings to protect against the chronic erosion in this area. The road next to the park is crumbling away from damage incurred during Hurricane Floyd. The dunes are basically nonexistent in this area and very little storm protection is afforded the homes, roads and other infrastructure.

     Leaving Yaupon Beach Park, turn left onto Ocean Drive. Traveling west this road becomes East Beach Drive at the intersection of SE 79^th Street. This intersection marks the beginning of the old town of Long Beach which continued all the way to the west end of the Island. When East Beach Drive ends at the stop sign (1.3 miles) turn right onto SE 74^th Street. At the stop sign (1.5 miles), turn left onto Oak Island Drive (prior section traveled named Yaupon Drive). Continue west and turn left onto SE 67^th Street (1.9 miles). This area is unique in having freshwater ponds very close to the ocean located on both sides of the road. Park at the end near the beach and notice how the eroding beach is very close to the ponds and very little dune field remains to separate them.

     Turn around and travel back on SE 67^th Street to Oak Island Drive. Turn left at the stop sign (2.3 miles) traveling west on Oak Island Drive to the traffic light located at the intersection of 58^th Street (2.9 miles). Turn left on SE 58^th Street which curves to the right onto East Beach Drive (3.1 miles). This area along the beach was devastated by Hurricane Floyd  in 1999, and many houses are on the beach between the ocean and the man-made dune line. At high tide, the foundations of these homes are underwater. Beginning in February 2001 the beach between SE 58^th Street and 19^th Place East will be renourished by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Sea Turtle Habitat Restoration Project. Continuing west on East Beach Drive, turn right onto 19^th Place East (5.1 miles) heading north. Cross East Dolphin Drive and East Pelican Drive and park at the Oak Island walkway over Davis Canal (5.3 miles). This area offers excellent views of Davis Canal and the associated marsh areas.

     Leaving the walkway, travel south on 19^th Place East and turn right on E. Dolphin Drive (5.4 miles). Travel west on E. Dolphin Drive and turn left onto 16^th Place East (5.6 miles). At the stop sign, turn right onto East Beach Drive traveling west. Immediately on your left will be the Ocean Crest Pier (5.7 miles) which was completely destroyed by Hurricane Floyd and is in the process of being rebuilt.

     Continue traveling west on East Beach Drive. The intersecting street numbers count down until south east Middleton Avenue (6.5 miles). After passing SE Middleton Avenue, the road becomes West Beach Drive and the intersecting streets progress from low to higher numbers. Just past 27^th Place West (8.0 miles), Long Beach Pier (8.1 miles) is located on the left.

     Continuing west on West Beach Drive, note how the elevation increases around the 36^th Place West (8.5 miles) intersection. The homes in this area faired much better in Hurricane Floyd due to the higher elevation on this part of the beach. Between 42^nd Place West (8.8 miles) and 51^st Place West (9.2 miles) a portion of the original dune system remains intact. Note the wind swept vegetation and the high elevation along this stretch of West Beach Drive. At the intersection of 54^th Place West (9.4 miles), observe how narrow the island is. This area was completely washed over during Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Due to the low elevation and narrowness of the island between 54^th and 60^th Place West (9.7 miles), this area would be a likely location for an inlet to break through during a storm event.

     Continuing west on West Beach Drive, continue straight past the fork in the road at Kings Lynn Drive (9.9 miles). West Beach Drive ends at a parking area (10.4 miles) located at a recreation area known as "The Point" or the "West End".

     Leaving the parking area at the West End, travel east on West Beach Drive to SE Middleton Avenue (14.3 miles). Turn left on SE Middleton Avenue and cross over Davis Canal. At the stop sign (14.7 miles) continue straight across Oak Island Drive to the stop sign at East Yacht Drive (15.1 miles). Cross East Yacht Drive and park at the street end along the Atlantic Intracoastal Water Way. This area is known as the "Yellow Banks" because of the color of the high sandy hills located there.

     Leave the Yellow Banks parking area and turn left onto East Yacht Drive. Continue east turning left at NE 31^st Street (16.9 miles) and park along the waterway. Directly out front along the shoreline is a wooden marsh breakwater demonstration project. Continuing east on East Yacht Drive, turn left at NE 35^th Street (17.2 miles) and park along the waterway. Here another breakwater demonstration project, known as a stone sill, can be seen along the shoreline.

     Continuing east on East Yacht Drive, turn left at NE 52^nd Street (18.2 miles). The new building on the right of the parking area is the Oak Island Environmental Education Center where visitors will learn about coastal ecology. At the end of the parking area is the Malcolm Register Park.

     Continue east on East Yacht Drive to the stop sign at NE 64th Street (19.0 miles). Turn left and continue on East Yacht Drive to NE 78^th Street. A small pier, known as the "78^th Street Crab Dock" (19.8 miles) is located here.

     From the Crab Dock, drive south on NE 78^th Street (19.9 miles) to the stop sign at Oak Island Drive (20.2 miles). Turn left on Oak Island Drive and travel east to the traffic light (21.0 miles). Turn left and cross Oak Island bridge to leave the island.