Bald Head Island is unique

Bald Head Island, often shown on older maps as Smith Island, is the only part of Brunswick County east of the Cape Fear River at its mouth. The island features a village with a year-round population of less than 200. It is also the southernmost point in Brunswick County and the only place in North Carolina where palm trees are native.

While Bald Head was once an island, it now joins Pleasure Island. Hurricane Floyd and several strong winter storms filled in New Inlet in 1999. No auto traffic is allowed, as the Bald Head Island State Natural Area lies between Fort Fisher and the main body of Bald Head Island, and vehicles are not allowed there. Access to Bald Head is by foot or boat only, with a passenger ferry terminal in Southport. Even though it has been developed, golf cars and other electric vehicles are all that are allowed on the island.

Bald Head features three beaches, all of which are prime nesting areas for sea turtles. The west beach faces the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean; the south beach faces the Atlantic Ocean south and west of Cape Fear; and the east beach faces the Atlantic Ocean north and east of Cape Fear.

Surf fishing is good at times, but more important to fishermen is the extensive marsh and creek system on the north side of the island. Some areas of the marsh remain several degrees warmer than the water in the open bay, and flounder, red drum, black drum and speckled trout overwinter and thrive there.

Bald Head Creek, Fishing Creek, Cape Creek, Bay Creek, Deep Creek, Cedar Creek and Still Creek all meander through the marshes. The creeks are mostly shallow and filled with sand bars and oyster rocks, but they include an abundance of deeper holes that make for excellent habitat. Buzzard Bay and Second Bay are large bodies of shallow water on the northeastern edge of the marsh and several hammocks, most notably Middle Island and Bluff Island, give dry land, with maritime forest coverage, in the marsh.

Fishermen will find more than 8,500 acres of prime estuarine areas, just behind the sand dunes and at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Much of the area is ideal habitat for many inshore fish, and there is enough room that it rarely is crowded.