Giozanni Verrazzano, on an expedition sponsored by Francis I of France in 1542, may have described Masonboro Island. The mainland shore of the area was settled during the second quarter of the 18th century by farmers and fishermen. More affluent landowners established summer residences. Confederate troops were stationed along the mainland shore, particularly near Whiskey Creek, the largest saltworks in the area. It was destroyed by Union troops in 1864. The island and sound were involved in the wrecks of at least four vessels during the course of the war. During the last half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the most important fisheries of the area were mullet, flounders, shrimps, clams and oysters. Since the completion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in 1932, the area has been developed as a resort destination.
The largest undisturbed barrier island along the southern part of the North Carolina coast is Masonboro Island, located in New Hanover County between the barrier island towns of Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach. The city of Wilmington lies 5 miles to the northwest. The component is accessible only by boat. The Masonboro site is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the west, Masonboro Inlet to the north and Carolina Beach Inlet to the south. The 8.4 mile long island encompasses approximately 5,046 acres, 87 percent of which are covered with marsh and tidal flats. The remaining 619 acres are composed of beach uplands and dredge material islands. The island is located in the most populous part of the North Carolina coastal area.
Nearshore waters are frequented by brown pelicans, shearwaters, royal terns, herring gulls and laughing gulls. The intertidal beach zone serves as a resting and feeding area for sand pipers and plovers. Mourning doves, ground doves, and common nighthawks nest and feed within the dune areas, while boat-tailed grackles and red-winged blackbirds feed on seed oat seeds in the fall. Seasonal nesters include black skimmers, night hawks and American oystercatchers. Other birds include warblers and sparrows, great blue and little blue herons, tricolor herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, willets and clapper rails.
Forty-four species of fish have been collected from the waters of this site, including spot, mullet, summer flounder, pompano, menhaden, bluefish, striped killfish, mummichog, pinfish, silversides and sheepshead minnow. Mammals on the island include cotton rats, house mice, marsh rabbits, opossums, raccoons and river otters. Invertebrate residents of the intertidal mud and sand flats include various mollusks: quahog clams, marsh razor clams, oysters and mud snails.
Peregrine falcons have been reported as rare seasonal transients. Piping plovers feed on the island during the winter. Loggerhead and Green sea turtles nest on Masonboro Island ocean beach.
More Info: ncnerr.org
