How Fort Fisher Came To Be on Pleasure Island-- Part 3

However, locals hated the name, finding it somewhat sleazy. The residents of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach especially were unwilling to give up their individual community names.

The town of Carolina Beach even went so far as to  put the name of "Pleasure Island" on a ballot and have a vote on it.  Carolina Beach voted overwhelmingly against it.

However, the Chamber and some others continue to use the name Pleasure Island for the area as being convenient to describe the resort area.

Our society, the federal Point Historical Society Association continues to use the historical name  for the area which includes everything north of Snow's Cut to Monkey Junction to Fort Fisher, including Myrtle Grove, Masonboro, The Cape, Seabreeze, Carolina Beach, (Wilmington Beach and Hanby Beach were incorporated into the towns of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach in the 1990s) Kure Beach and Fort Fisher.

--Old B-Runner

How Fort Fisher Came to Be on Pleasure Island-- Part 2

In the late 1800s communities were developed on the lower Federal Point peninsula (between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean).  They were the communities/beach resorts of Carolina Beach, Wilmington Beach, Hanby Beach, Kure Beach (first called Fort Fisher Sea Beach as it was right by Fort Fisher).

In 1930, Snow's cut was made across the Federal Point peninsula which, in effect, turned the peninsula south of the cut (which is by where the bridge is) into an island.  Snow's Cut was a part of the Intercoastal Waterway.  After that, the area began to grow and the communities began tom merge their identities.  

In particular, Wilmington Beach and Hanby Beach began losing their identity.

In the 1970s,  the local Chamber of Commerce, local realtors and some local businessmen decided they needed a single name for all the communities on the new "island" for promotional purposes.  They came up with "Pleasure Island."  The state of North Carolina even adopted it into the official state map for a year or two.

So, It Was a Promotional Thing.  --Old B-Runner

How Fort Fisher Came to Be in Pleasure Island (and Federal and Confederate Point)

From the October 3, 2021, Wilmington (North Carolina) Star-News "What's the story behind the 'Pleasure Island' name?"

Anyone visiting Fort Fisher might see it advertised as being on Pleasure Island or Federal Point.

QUESTION:  When and how did Pleasure Island get its name?  I assume it was just called Federal Point then.

ANSWER:   Rebecca Taylor, manager of the Federal Point History Center explains it this way.

 James Sprunt, long-time historian of the lower Cape Fear River area, says Federal Point was named  in honor of the new Federal Constitution adopted in 1788.  During the Civil War, the name obviously was changed to Confederate Point after North Carolina seceded from the United States.  The name was changed back to Federal Point after the war.

But, what does that have to do with Pleasure Island as a name for the area?

Continued.  --Old B-Runner