Qualla: Southport, North Carolina

Southport, North Carolina: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Southport tried to become a major shipping port and failed at it twice. The first attempt was the original name change: in 1887, the citizens of Smithville rebranded their town as Southport to attract trade away from Wilmington. The trade did not come. The second attempt was railroad-based and also fizzled. What did arrive, eventually, was something the founders never planned for. Filmmakers found the cypress-shaded streets and white-clapboard waterfront and never left. The North Carolina Fourth of July Festival now draws 40,000 to 50,000 visitors a year, ten times the population.

Southport, North Carolina: Smithville and Fort Johnston

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In 1744, Spanish privateers were raiding the Carolina coast and the British settlements lacked fortifications. Governor Gabriel Johnston appointed a committee to pick a site for a fort at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. France declared war on Britain the same year, intensifying...

Southport, North Carolina: The Warmest Place in North Carolina

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Southport has a humid subtropical climate, with summers that are very hot and humid and winters that are mild even by coastal North Carolina standards. The yearly average temperature is 65.0 degrees Fahrenheit, more like coastal Georgia or the northern Gulf Coast of Florida than ...

Southport, North Carolina: The Film Town

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Cinespace Wilmington is up the road, and the proximity turned Southport into a recurring screen location. The TV series Revenge and Under the Dome filmed here. The films include I Know What You Did Last Summer, Summer Catch, Domestic Disturbance, Crimes of the Heart, Mary and Mar...

Southport, North Carolina: September 27, 2025

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On the evening of September 27, 2025, a person opened fire from a boat in the Intracoastal Waterway at the American Fish Company in the Yacht Basin. Three people were killed. Six were injured. The suspect was detained at an Oak Island boat ramp shortly after 10 p.m. The shooting ...

Southport, North Carolina: Notable Citizens

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Southport's roster of native sons and daughters is unusually long for a city of fewer than 4,000 people. Margaret Craighill, born here in 1898, became the first female commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Abraham Galloway, born here in 1837, escaped enslavement, w...