The quaint, picturesque town of Southport is tucked away in the very southeastern corner of North Carolina at the mouth of the Cape Fear River where it joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Intra-Coastal Waterway. Originally incorporated in 1792 as Smithville, its progressive citizens changed its name to Southport in 1887 in hopes of attracting a port. The port went further upstream to the city of Wilmington but this entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the town today. Ironically, almost 120 years later Southport has been chosen as the location for North Carolina’s new International Port.
The historic charm of this community will captivate you as you walk under a canopy of 200 year old live oak trees, or walk past majestic Victorian century homes which once belonged to river pilots or maybe even a pirate or two in Southport’s true historical downtown residential district with many homes listed on the National Historic Homes registry.
Banks, antique & collectible shops, restaurants, and professional offices line about a five block area in the downtown commercial district. Just outside this district is one of the finest medical care facilities in our region, J.A. Dosher Memorial Hospital. A visit to our area is not complete without a day or two of walking through these antique and specialty shops, stopping along the way for a leisurely lunch at an outside pub or restaurant along the waterfront or yacht basin, taking a pedicab historic tour of the City, watching transoceanic vessels pass by at Waterfront Park and visiting the NC Maritime Museum in Southport. The City of Southport also offers sailors, anglers and boaters a safe haven through the Southport Marina, Old Yacht Basin and City Pier.
It's a town close enough to Wilmington to reach the conveniences of a big city and college campuses, yet just out of reach of the interstate traffic. The road from Wilmington passes a southern attraction, Orton Plantation, which is open to the public in the spring and summer months. The two-lane slowly meanders towards the coast, live oaks hang across the highway. Just before you get to town there are the conveniences of the super stores so you aren't ''in the woods'' entirely. Southport touts a 2,600 year round population that spurts up with the temperatures.
Several movies have been filmed here. ''Crimes of the Heart'', starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lang and Sissy Spacek was filmed at the Northrop House. An Oprah Winfrey movie, ''The Wedding,'' and ''Summer Catch'' are a few more names to look for in the video store if you want to catch a bit of the view before coming.