NC's beaches have plenty to offer in winter
The beach isn’t for everybody.
Summertime along North Carolina’s coast can be tricky to navigate – a couple of hours (or more) in the car just to face the hordes of people all battling for the best sliver of sand to relax for the day.
It’s no wonder that the lure of a dip in the ocean at North Carolina’s beaches – Cape Lookout National Seashore, Nags Head, Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach among them – is so tempting when the weather is warm.
While it’s less possible to sunbathe and swim in cooler temperatures, wintertime at the beach provides an entirely different experience. It provides crisp air, empty stretches of shore and the calming waves all to yourself.
Here’s a look at what North Carolina beaches offer in the wintertime.
Get coffee, hot chocolate or something to warm up
Whenever I’m at any kind of restaurant or establishment, I know something is top-notch when something I wouldn’t typically order is delicious.
Admittedly, I am a faux coffee drinker. It’s not that I don’t like coffee, but I’m not devastated without it.
However, the coffee at the Workshop at 86 Waynick Blvd. at Wrightsville Beach is spectacular. The food is also delicious.
The shop is open every day from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. If coffee isn’t your thing, the Workshop also has smoothies, pastries, toasts and panini-pressed sandwiches.
Grab a cup of coffee, hot or iced, and take a walk on the beach. There are several beach access points to Wrightsville Beach less than a quarter mile away.
Carolina Beach Pier
The Carolina Beach Pier is at the northern tip of the island at 1800 Carolina Beach Avenue North. It also offers customers free parking.
In 2022, the Carolina Beach Pier was sold to new owners.
The High Tide Lounge is typically decked out with holiday decorations during Christmas time. It also provides a tremendous view from either the second floor or third floor of Carolina Beach. From the lounge, you can watch the few who are brave enough to endure the cold water to surf.
At the beach level, the pier sells Christmas trees in advance of Christmas Day and pumpkins in advance of Halloween. It provides a great sense of holiday spirit.
When the weather is warm enough, the Tiki Bar on the second floor is a relaxing place to grab a drink.
One thing to note: The end of the pier is closed for fishing and undergoing repairs due to storm damage.
Visit the Wright Brothers Memorial
Wilbur and Orville Wright were out of their minds.
It took the brothers four years of experimentation before achieving the first successful airplane flights on Dec. 17, 1903. Keep in mind, they would also travel back and forth between North Carolina and Dayton, Ohio.
Wilbur Wright developed the notion of warping the wings by watching birds and idle twisting of a box.
While in Dayton, they tested wing-warping on a 5-foot biplane kite. However, the weather conditions in Dayton were not suitable for their extensive experiments.
They chose Kitty Hawk – a windy location – for high-sand dunes, isolation and a soft sand landing area.
According to the National Park Services, in a letter dated May 13, 1900, to Octave Chanute, an experienced engineer and a worldwide authority on flight at the time, Wilbur Wright wrote:
“For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man. My disease has increased in severity and I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life. I have been trying to arrange my affairs in such a way that I can devote my entire time for a few months to experiment in this field.”
Keep in mind: The brothers would have to haul test gliders up the 90-foot tall Kill Devil Hill. Over the years, their gliders ranged from 17-foot wingspan to 40-foot, 4-inch wingspan.
The Wright Brothers National Memorial at 1000 North Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills provides a tribute to their achievement.
A 60-foot granite monument was dedicated to the brothers in 1932 atop Kill Devil Hill.
Every American should go see where the Wright Brothers forever changed the world.
Want to visit for free the memorial for free? The Wright Brothers National Memorial will waive its entrance fee for eight days in 2024.
The eight fee-free days will be:
- Jan. 15: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- April 20: First day of National Park Week
- June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day
- Aug. 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
- Aug. 19: National Aviation Day
- Sept. 28: National Public Lands Day
- Nov. 11: Veterans Day
- Dec. 17: 121st anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight
Visit Jockey’s Ridge State Park
Jockey’s Ridge State Park is home to the tallest living sand dune system on the Atlantic coast. It provides an awesome view of the Atlantic Ocean.
It is a great place to fly kites, watch the sunset and to hang glide if that’s your thing. Registration is required if you want to hang glide.
To me, Jockey’s Ridge State Park feels like the “Star Wars” planet of Tatooine. (The scenes were actually filmed in Death Valley National Park).
I cannot emphasize this enough: Bring water or something to hydrate!
My family made the mistake of visiting Jockey’s Ridge State Park in the summertime. If I ever go back to Jockey’s Ridge, it will be when it’s cooler out, ideally, either in the morning or as the sun is setting.
There are no camping facilities at Jockey’s Ridge.
Visit Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher – located at 1610 Ft. Fisher Blvd. South at Kure Beach – was a Confederate fort during the Civil War.
Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina's port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland.
By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. When Fort Fisher fell after a massive Federal assault on Jan. 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.
It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free.
Visit the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
It is a family-friendly place where you can see eels, a gliding stingray, sharks, an albino alligator, baby sea turtles and a family of otters playing in a waterfall.
Tickets are typically $12.95 for adults, $11.95 for seniors 62 and older and $10.95 for children ages 3-12. Children ages 2 and younger are free.
Become a sandcastle architect
The cold sand molds like clay, which is perfect for sculpting an epic fortress.
Challenge your group to a sandcastle showdown with moats, towers and a seaweed throne for the winner.
Plus, you might find a souvenir that washes ashore.
Beachcombing
The items that wash up on the beach vary throughout the year.
Winter is generally the best time of year to find shells due to strong onshore winds and occasional powerful nor’easter storms.
The calm ocean typical of the summer does not usually bring many shells onto the beach.
Gather around a fire
With regulations, fires are allowed on beaches in Nags Head and along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. For example, Nags Head requires permits.
However, they are not allowed in Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.
Check with your municipality about its beach fire rules before building one.
If you are allowed to make a beach fire, get the marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate and graham crackers to make S’mores. Also, grab a cup of hot chocolate, a sweatshirt and some blankets.
