WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Wrightsville Beach has seen its share of fires since being incorporated in 1899. The Seashore Hotel was destroyed by a blaze in 1919 with the Shell Island Pavilion being left in ruins in by the same fate in 1926. But Sunday marks 90 years since a three-hour fire in 1934 nearly burned Wrightsville Beach off the map.
The exact cause of the blaze has been debated over the decades. Some people think the fire started from an unattended cigarette during a card game. Others feel an iron was the source. But the majority believe a kitchen fire at Kitty Cottage likely set the devastating fire in motion.
Regardless of the initial spark, the fire spread quickly thanks to closely built wood-frame cottages on the coast.
In its path was the Oceanic Hotel, which had stood in the town since starting out as the Hotel Tarrymore in 1905. The massive resort had 125 rooms and offered the latest in amenities, from private bathrooms to electricity to telephones. It even had a bowling alley, saloon, billiard tables, a bathhouse and a 4,000 square-foot ballroom that hosted daily concerts and dancing.
But the prestige was no match for the advancing flames.
Despite a bucket brigade being formed from the beach to the worsening fire, the cold January wind fanned the flames, pushing them north toward the hotel. The smoke was so thick it could even be seen in neighboring counties.
The Wilmington Fire Department tried to respond, but there was no drawbridge, only a trolley trestle. Firefighters loaded an engine onto one of the flat cars only to watch it get stuck in the sand once it reached the hotel because there were no paved roads on Wrightsville Beach.
Soon the Oceanic Hotel was engulfed, and flames moved to the cottages that dotted the north end of the beach. Fortunately, in the quiet of the off-season, the hotel and many cottages were empty, so no one was hurt.
People are said to have rushed into the homes and structures to pull furniture and belongings out on the front lawns to spare them from the fire. But it was such a vicious blaze that it even scorched the ground, charring those possessions in its path.
Once the fire began to subside hours later, all that was left in its path were chimneys and old iron bed frames, with the mattresses burned off.
In all, the fire destroyed more than 100 buildings and caused more than a million dollars worth of damage in what was then North Wrightsville Beach. It left a path of destruction not seen again until Hurricane Hazel 20 years later.
The only thing stopping the fire from advancing further down the island was the towering Sand Dunes resort, which historian Rupert Benson said served a wind funnel and sent the fluttering embers out to sea.
Although a major fire hasn’t broken out in Wrightsville Beach since the 1934 blaze, that event serves as a reminder a small spark can change the course of history.