About

First know simply as The Banks, and then as Ocean View Beach, the town of Wrightsville Beach was incorporated in 1899, named for the Wright family of Wilmington who owned large tracts of land nearby and for whom Wrightsville Sound and the small community of Wrightsville on the mainland side of the current drawbridge were already named.

Accessibility to the beach improved in 1887 when the Shell Road – following the route of current Wrightsville Avenue – was completed, running from Wilmington, 10 miles west, to the edge of what is now the Intracoastal Waterway.