3001 W Beach Drive
December 20, 2011 by gary
Filed under Real Estate
3001 W Beach Drive Oak Island, NC Incredible oceanfront opportunity. Short sale priced to sell. Will not last long. One of the largest oceanfront homes on Oak Island with rebuildable lot. $593,761
Let me show you this beautiful home as well as any other MLS listing at Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, Oak Island, Bald Head Island or the mainland golf areas and Shallotte!
As an Accredited Buyer Representative Martha Pope can furnish information and represent you with regard to any properties in the Multiple Listing Service.
For more information on this or any other property anywhere in the area please contact Martha: martha@pope-realestate.com.
Course Review: Sea Trail Maples
December 14, 2011 by gary
Filed under Recreation and Sports
The Maples Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links offers a few touches that give it a unique look on the Grand Strand.
Several moss-draped oaks and pine trees grow in waste bunkers that line a few holes; brick and stone walkways lead the way to tee boxes through waste bunkers; an open cemetery is passed en route to the second tee box; and despite meandering through a heavily developed residential community, the course also has a handful of holes that run along the Calabash Creek.
“I’ve seen waste bunkers with pampas grass growing out of them, but never trees,” said Frances Pritchard of Conway, a member of a foursome that reviewed and rated the course in early December. “It’s a nice addition.”
The Dan Maples layout is not overly demanding in length, measuring 6,797 from the back blue tees and 6,332 from the white. And you shouldn’t lose many balls. Tree-lined fairways rather than hazards account for the course’s biggest challenge.
In addition to Frances, a hostess at Papa’s restaurant who carries a handicap of 28, the foursome included me, Pete Veum, a retired salesman from Myrtle Beach who plays to a 13, and Ed Wydro, another retiree from Little River who plays to an 18. Pete played the back tees, Ed and I the white and Frances the 5,090-yard red. The course also features 6,035-yard gold tees.
“It’s a fair challenge from the white tees,” Ed said. “Under normal circumstances, the average player would have a tough time but a good time. The course makes you think a little bit.”
“Which is a real problem for us,” Pete added.
Over the summer and fall, the Maples Course closed for $500,000 in renovations, and changed its greens from Bermuda to an A1/A4 blended bent grass. Due to the increased speed associated with bent, several green complexes were redesigned to reduce their undulation, though there are still significant mounds, ridges and slopes on most.
“I thought they putted well for only being a month or two old,” said Pete, who has played the course three times. “In the summer, they’ll be very fast. They’re much better than they were before.”
Sea Trail also refurbished bunkers with a light, white sand, and managed to improve air circulation throughout the course without significantly altering the course’s tight, tree-lined characteristic.
“You have to be accurate on the second shots on the par-4s and the third shots on the par-5s,” Pete said. “They all narrow down as you go to the green.”
There are approximately 50 bunkers on the course, but many aren’t in traditional landing areas and greens are generally open in front with no more than two bunkers protecting any of them. The course’s rough is not very penal.
“The rough is not too deep, but it’s high enough to let you know it’s there,” Ed said. “That’s the way it should be for the average player. It’s there, but you can play out of it.”
Because it’s a residential course, out of bounds lurks close to the fairways of many holes. But so do friendly neighbors. A bowl of candy was left at the base of a tree behind a home adjacent to the cart path off the 15th women’s tee box, and was accompanied by a sign wishing everyone a merry Christmas. Pete and Ed abstained, possibly fearing a terrorist scheme, but Frances and I each grabbed a piece. “They’re so skeptical,” Frances said. “Some people are just nice.”
The par-3s are all between 150 and 172 yards from the white tees and 170-198 from the blue tees, and holes 5, 11 and 17 are straightforward with an open entrance to the greens. “The par-3s looked a lot alike,” Pete said.
The third hole is the most distinctive of the par-3s. It features split tee boxes, with the red and gold to the left and blue and white to the right, where a pond to the right of the green comes more into play and a short but wide tree that is growing out of a waste bunker in front of the green must be carried. “It’s a different look,” Ed said.
The course gets much of its yardage from the par-5s, especially from the back tees, where they start at 545 yards and stretch to 575. The one reprieve from the white tees is the 490-yard 12th. Otherwise, they measure between 525 and 553 yards.
The fourth hole is a straightforward par-5, while the sixth is designed for three shots. It features a gradual bend to the right that makes it difficult to get a good angle to the green on the second shot, and a small pond 20 yards from the green on the left side to further deter bold attempts.
The 12th hole has the creek to the left but is open to approach shots and can be reached after a long drive, and the 575-yard 15th has a waste bunker running all the way up the left side to the 150 marker, and another small waste bunker with a dead tree to the front-right of the green.
Though the majority of the doglegs turn to the left, the par-4s offer a variety of yardages and looks. “The course is laid out really nice,” Frances said. “It’s not a humdrum course. Each hole is a little different.”
The diversity of the par-4s is demonstrated in the front nine’s closing holes.
The seventh hole measures 410 from the back tees and 375 from the white. A drive of between 200 and 225 is required to get past the left tree line on the sharp dogleg-left, with an approach shot from 130 yards or less to a green that slopes to the front and back due to a middle ridge.
The dogleg-left eighth is 410 from the blue and 380 from the white, and requires a drive over water through a chute of trees, then approach to a green protected by a pair of bunkers to its right. More of the fairway’s left side is open to drives from the white tees, considerably shortening the hole.
The ninth hole is perhaps the toughest on the course because of its length of 455, 445, 420 and 360 from the four tee boxes, and one of the smaller greens on the course with a large ridge separating its right front and back portions.
The course’s first two holes are short par-4s with Calabash Creek running along the right side of each, and the closing hole is a very birdieable par-4, measuring 410 from the blue, 330 from the white and just 250 from the red, with housing on the left.
By Alan Blondin
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Sea Trail Dan Maples Signature Course - Twisted ancient oaks and tall Carolina pines define each hole on the beautiful par 72 course, still regarded as one of Maples finest. This one-of-a-kind course has newly renovated A1/A4 blended Bent grass greens and boasts five holes that wind along the scenic Calabash Creek, home to nesting ospreys and other native wildlife. The course is also peppered with numerous waste bunkers, one of which extends the full length of a fairway. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
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Sea Trail Willard Byrd Signature Course -
Opened in the Fall of 1990, each hole of the Willard Byrd Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links, Sunset Beach, NC is memorable for both beauty and exacting play.
Built around several man-made lakes, each ranging from 14-20 acres, every hole of this par-72 signature course requires a distinctly difference approach. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
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Sea Trail Rees Jones Signature Course – The Rees Jones Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links, Sunset Beach, NC, opened in the Spring of 1990 and has become a perennial favorite of visitors and locals alike. Players of all skill levels will enjoy an extraordinary golf experience on this straightforward golf course with typical Jones bounding. Wide fairways and large mounds are surrounded by water, with water coming into play on 11 holes of the Par 72 championship course. In addition to water hazards, the many pot and large expanse bunkers make for a delightfully challenging game of golf. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
Course Review: Sea Trail’s Byrd
December 14, 2011 by gary
Filed under Recreation and Sports
Sea Trail’s Willard Byrd course: an underrated challenge!
The Rees Jones course at Sea Trail is the resort’s most popular course, mainly because golfers want the opportunity to play a tract designed by one of the nation’s most acclaimed architects. Yet, one of its mates, Sea Trail’s Willard Byrd course, is an underrated challenge that is just as popular with many of the people that have played them both.
“The Byrd course since they put the new greens in is great,” said New York resident Tom Capowski, a 5 handicap. “I prefer this actually even over the Jones. It’s very playable for most of the people. I know guys that play here that are 30 handicaps or 15s. It’s playable for everybody. It’s challenging enough. I enjoy it.”
Both the Byrd and Jones courses opened in 1990, and each of them have their own personality and have developed their own following.
“The public all wants to play Rees Jones,” said Tom Plankers, the president of golf at Sea Trail. “The Willard Byrd is more renown for being one of the better Southern courses he’s done. He’s done quite a few in the South, but this is probably one of his better golf courses.”
Sea Trail Resort’s Byrd Course is a prime example of why so many courses on the Grand Strand are replacing bentgrass greens with new ultradwarf Bermudagrasses.
The pine tree-lined Willard Byrd layout that opened in 1990 has been revitalized by the changing of the greens last year from bent to Champion Bermuda.
“The greens are great. They are huge, they don’t have any blemishes and are really true,” said Josh Unger of Myrtle Beach, a student at the Golf Academy of America who took part in a review of the course in late March.
“Any time you can get a green that’s big and relatively flat that is ideal. These greens are big and they have some undulation in them but not too much, and they’ll hold shots and aren’t too hard.”
Joining me and Josh, who carries a 10.4 handicap, in the review foursome were John Hasenstab of Murrells Inlet, a retired educator with a 17 handicap, and Grace Caravello of Conway, a retired Verizon systems analyst with a 24 handicap.
“This course had a tremendous variety of holes,” John said. “There are many very nice holes with scenic aesthetics.”
The course’s yardage of 6,740 doesn’t require a driver off every tee and includes a number of doglegs both right and left. “A variety of clubs can be used off the tee and there’s a high amount of risk-reward,” Josh said.
There is some water on the layout but most of the difficulty stems from bunkers. Both waste and traditional bunkers pinch fairways, and 15 of the 18 greens are protected by multiple bunkers. “The course was very fair with good shots and not overly punitive for bad ones,” John said.
The course’s aesthetics include stone walkways to delineate parking areas at tees and greens, dead trees in some waste bunker areas, a plethora of wildlife including alligators and a variety of birds – there’s an osprey nest on the 18th fairway near the green – and attractive housing, including Charleston-style homes on some holes.
“The course was in great condition,” Josh said. “The manicuring on this course is really nice. They definitely take time and do the work to make it nice.”
Women have a significant advantage on many holes with a total yardage of 4,621 yards. “The par-3s were easy for women and some of the par-4s were short enough to make it in regulation,” Grace said. “The par-5s were short also.”
Likes
The driving range has target greens and flags with measured yardages, and there is a chipping green with a bunker.
John enjoyed the tee-time separation of 10 minutes, compared to eight minutes at many clubs, and the policy to start every group on the first tee. “What a pleasant experience it is,” John said. “We didn’t push the group in front of us and we weren’t pushed, and that must be attributed to the 10-minute tee times.”
Grace thought the staff was friendly and helpful and enjoyed the rolling terrain in and around many fairways. “Fairways were hilly and fun to play,” she said.
With combined green and cart fees between $40 and $55 year round, “it’s a great value,” John said.
Josh appreciated the tree-lined layout and detailed yardage book. “It’s very detailed and helped a lot having not played the course before,” Josh said.
Dislikes
There are small hole depictions on the scorecard and yardage books are available for $3, but there weren’t hole depictions on tee boxes. “If we didn’t have the yardage book we would have been lost because there were no hole descriptions at the tee boxes like a lot of courses have, and there are some things you can’t see on the tee box,” Grace said.
The sand was good when abundant in bunkers, but it was inconsistent and thin in spots and had sparse grass growing through some areas. “The bunkers were unkept and irregular in condition,” John said.
Josh thought out-of-bounds stakes created by housing were too close to some fairways, and Grace didn’t believe there was enough selection of women’s clothing in the pro shop.
Par-3s
Par-3 distances are very manageable at between 174 and 202 yards from the tips. The 174-yard second hole measures 167 from the white tee and requires a carry over water to a green that is angled to the back right, slopes to the front and left, and is surrounded by four bunkers, including an expansive bunker to its left.
The 190-yard seventh is 167 from the white and has a drive over a waste bunker decorated with a pair of small dead trees. A mildly rolling green is situated between five bunkers.
The 186-yard 12th measures 163 from the white and requires a drive over a water hazard that extends past the left side of a wide green that contains a couple rolling areas. A bunker covers the entire front of the green and there are smaller bunkers back and back left. “It’s a great par-3 over water with wind factoring in,” John said.
Several bunkers are snuggled around the green of the 202-yard 16th hole, which is 155 from the white.
Par-4s
None of the par-4s were overwhelmingly long, measuring between 368 and 412 yards. “There’s a good variety of par-4s,” John said. “Some were easily reachable in two, some were tough.”
The 387-yard first hole doesn’t require a driver and is somewhat benign, though it has water far left. The 412-yard fifth is straightforward with five deep bunkers protecting the fairway and one protecting the front left of the green.
The 396-yard sixth has a fairly narrow landing area caused by bunkers pinching both sides of the fairway, with the left bunker prominent off the tee. The eighth, 10th and 11th holes are either sharp or slight dogleg rights, the 15th is a sharp dogleg left, and the 404-yard slight dogleg-left 14th has a very narrow landing area for a driver, with water coming into the fairway from the left that is blind from the tee and bunkers on the right.
“They have a nice mix of dogleg lefts and dogleg rights,” Josh said. “There’s a lot of risk-reward from the back tees on the hard dogleg par-4s. You can hit to the dogleg with a hybrid or take on the dogleg with a driver.”
Par-5s
Three of the par-5s measure between 515 and 542 yards, while the final par-5 offers birdie and eagle possibilities. Only one par-5 is more than 495 yards from the white tees. “All the par-5s were fair and scoreable,” John said.
The 525-yard third hole measures 468 from the white tee and features a drive over water to a fairway on the left that must be placed between a pair of fairway bunkers at the turn of a sharp dogleg right. The fairway is a narrow corridor through pines and is rolling with mild mounding on both sides. The green has a mild plateau back right and is protected front and left by one bunker and right by another. “It’s a wonderful hole that requires a good drive and solid approach,” John said.
The 542-yard ninth is 517 from the white and turns slightly left with five bunkers to maneuver beginning deep in the tee shot landing area. The 528-yard 13th is 493 from the white and has bunkers both left and right in the fairway off the tee, and a green-fronting water hazard cutting across the fairway beginning 70 yards from a green that bends around a back left bunker and features a mild ridge through the middle.
The short 469-yard 18th measures 442 from the white and is intimidating in the yardage book with water abound, but the landing area is generous. “Once you get off the tee you’re good to go toward the green,” Josh said.
“All the par-5s were reachable in two good shots, though No. 13 may require a layup short of the water with 80 yards in after that,” Josh said. “They had tight landing areas off the tee with a driver but then the fairways opened up into large bunker-surrounded greens.”
Favorite holes
Josh’s favorite hole was the par-4 17th, a 382-yard hole turning slightly right with an elevated tee, water down the left side and a green well-protected by four bunkers. “A good drive will get you around 130 to 140 yards into the green, and the hole is aesthetically pleasing from the tee,” he said.
John enjoyed the par-4 14th, measuring 380 yards from the white tee, because “it required a center drive and punished you left or right.” He also liked the par-5 13th and third holes. “The third, with a drive across water at an angle into rolling hills to a dogleg right, was a great hole,” John said.
Grace liked the par-3 second hole, which measured 106 yards from the red tee and required a short shot over water to the green.
Least favorite holes
Josh’s least favorite hole was the 407-yard par-4 fourth, a sharp dogleg left turning around a waste bunker and tree line. A tree extending beyond the waste bunker on the left side of the fairway forces players to hit a well-placed tee shot of 240 to 270 yards to have a clear shot at the green, and OB lurks on the right. “You really only have about 30 yards to place your ball in the fairway off the tee and have a shot at the green,” Josh said.
John’s least favorite hole was the par-3 16th. “It was the least aesthetically pleasing hole on the course,” he said.
Grace’s least favorite hole was the par-5 13th, which measured 382 yards from the red tee and required about a 60-yard carry over water to reach the green. “I had to go over the water on the fourth shot and couldn’t make it over on the third shot, and I hate having to lay up like that and lose a shot.”
To view Blondin’s blog, Green Reading, or Q&A Forum, Ask Al, go to TheSunNews.com.
Sea Trail Willard Byrd Signature Course -
Opened in the Fall of 1990, each hole of the Willard Byrd Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links, Sunset Beach, NC is memorable for both beauty and exacting play.
Built around several man-made lakes, each ranging from 14-20 acres, every hole of this par-72 signature course requires a distinctly difference approach. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
———————————————————————-
Sea Trail Dan Maples Signature Course - Twisted ancient oaks and tall Carolina pines define each hole on the beautiful par 72 course, still regarded as one of Maples finest. This one-of-a-kind course has newly renovated A1/A4 blended Bent grass greens and boasts five holes that wind along the scenic Calabash Creek, home to nesting ospreys and other native wildlife. The course is also peppered with numerous waste bunkers, one of which extends the full length of a fairway. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
———————————————————————-
Sea Trail Rees Jones Signature Course – The Rees Jones Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links, Sunset Beach, NC, opened in the Spring of 1990 and has become a perennial favorite of visitors and locals alike. Players of all skill levels will enjoy an extraordinary golf experience on this straightforward golf course with typical Jones bounding. Wide fairways and large mounds are surrounded by water, with water coming into play on 11 holes of the Par 72 championship course. In addition to water hazards, the many pot and large expanse bunkers make for a delightfully challenging game of golf. Contact us for additional information or call 800-624-6601 or 910-287-1157. http://www.seatrail.com
$30 Golf: Canned Food Drive!
December 13, 2011 by gary
Filed under Recreation and Sports
Help those in need with a great rate on golf for yourself at Sea Trail!
Sea Trail is helping those in need during the holiday season for 2011 with its Canned Food Drive, Beginning December 1st 2011 you can get one round of golf on any of Sea Trail’s three signature courses of Distinction for just $30 per person with a donation of three cans of food.
Sea Trail collects these donations and delivers them to the Brunswick Family Assistance program to provide food for those less fortunate in the area. Ca;; 910.287.1122 or visit the Sea Trail Golf Shops for more details and tee times.
The Nine Irony By Tom Rieber
December 6, 2011 by gary
Filed under Cool Stuff
The Nine Irony, the latest in the Nick Thomas Mysteries series by Local Author Tom Rieber is now available online.
Nick Thomas is a little bit of all of us; believable, lovable, tough when need be and sensitive. He is a man who got a second chance at life after hitting bottom and turned his life around.
And life was good, that is until one fateful day the walls of his life came crashing down and he finds himself framed and wanted for the murder of his estranged ex-wife.
Nick has no choice but to go underground and try and find the real killer before the police find him. The Nine Irony is also a romantic story about a beautiful and trusting love between Nick and his soul-mate Chris who helps him through this fast paced ordeal.
Pick up your autographed copy and join Tom’s loyal fans. You won’t be disappointed!
Photographer’s New Book
December 5, 2011 by gary
Filed under Around The Town
The beauty of Oak Island and the other beach’s of NC’s Brunswick Islands are featured in new book by nationally renowned local nature photographer and artist, Ken Buckner!
Favorite Beach Photos – By Ken Buckner
Hardcover coffee table edition with 128 high quality 8″x10″ pages with 100 full color photographs.
Stroll sandy shores by the sea or the beaches of a lovely lake and see sunrises, sunsets and wildlife just as nationally renowned local nature photographer and artist, Ken Buckner viewed them through his camera.
This is Ken’s journey and you are invited to join him through these pages. Most of the photos were taken near his home in the South Brunswick Islands of North Carolina.
“I explore beauty with my camera. The photos show the journey” – Ken Buckner
The book includes the occasional “story behind the picture.” Ken wants the reader to feel some of the excitement he experienced capturing these special moments in time.
Buy The Book – $35.00
Excerpt from “Favorite Beach Photos” – By Ken Buckner: “Holden Beach, North Carolina is home to some of the largest Ghost Crabs that I’ve ever seen. Late one afternoon this creature and I seemed to be the only visitors on an east end beach and we spent about two hours together. I noticed that the crab was not only unafraid of me, he (or she) turned to face me as I moved around it in fascination, It occurred to me that I could control the light of the setting sun on the crab without touching it by simply changing my position. Thinking that an eye level approach might be interesting, I got down on my stomach in the sand and used a short telephoto lens to take a really good took. The crab seemed as interested in me as I was in it, perhaps seeing its own reflection in the lens. An encounter like this with what seems an alien visitor with its pod eyes above its head is one of the reasons I enjoy nature so much. The golden light of sunset became everything a photographer could hope for. The photograph provides a look at a creature that is normally shy and reminds me of the communication we had and the sunset we shared that special afternoon at the beach.”
Buy The High Quality Giclée Print
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Excerpt from “Favorite Beach Photos” – By Ken Buckner: “Consistently my most popular nature photo year after year, this image was made on the west end of Ocean Isle Beach, N. C. The inviting path to the sea, lined with sea oats and soft dunes reminds the viewer of a pleasant excellence they’ve had or would like to have. I didn’t know at the time that storms (especially hurricanes) can alter barrier islands drastically. They can move or eliminate all the things that are captured in this serene view and that is exactly what happened here. “Dunes Path” became the first photo to make me realize the value of recording transitory beauty. I was fortunate to find this spot and record it for all to enjoy, I loved the golden sea oats, blue shadows, pink sand and the tiny bird tracks going up the small dune in the foreground, I built the design around the cactus shapes and still enjoy the sense of depth in the picture from the closest sand grains to the ocean’s distant horizon fine. The photograph portrays a moment of beauty that was and may again be seen in similar form along the ocean’s ever changing shore.”
Buy The High Quality Giclée Print
The Tower! Just Too Cool!
August 19, 2011 by gary
Filed under Around The Town
Ever wanted to stay the night in a lighthouse/tower off of the NC Coast? Well you can! A software engineer from Oklahoma, Richard Neal, purchased the Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower, located just off of Oak Island NC, in 2010 and has taken on the immense project of restoring the tower. His intent is to offer overnight stays to charter fishing expeditions and divers who frequent Frying Pan Shoals. Neal is taking donations and is using the help of volunteers to make the restorations.
The tower also offers a safe haven for boaters and a helipad for use in medical emergencies. “Top-end” users could fly in for a week or weekend and enjoy a private fishing vacation according to Neal.
Neal also hopes to have a cell phone tower erected on the platform. Neal, 51, is a licensed pilot who had flown over the structure but had not yet set foot on it when he made the winning bid.
The tower is a modified 80-foot steel oil drilling platform and was used by the Coast Guard from 1966 until about eight years ago as an aid to navigation. The Coast Guard turned the nautical landmark over to the GSA to be sold when the introduction of GPS and buoys rendered the tower obsolete.
A federal General Services Administration spokesman said Neal was the only bidder for the modified 80-foot steel oil drilling platform when it was auctioned off in 2010.
The tower has two floors and 5,000 square feet of living space including five bedrooms, a kitchen, office, storage area, recreation area and toilet facilities.
Prior to beginning life on the tower Mr. Neal admitted to fishing only once in his life but had gained a love of the ocean from many flights taken along the Eastern Seaboard in his small private plane.
Neal currently has the tower accessible and hopes to be “fully functional” by 2012. We are not certain what conditions are at this time but they are taking reservations! Go here to make a reservation inquiry: http://www.fptower.com/inquiry.html
Now the story gets more interesting…Neal has written a book, or rather a software program born on the tower has written an ebook available for Kindle download at Amazon, “Hiding In Anonymity (HIA)”all proceeds are donated to the restoration efforts. Rather than trying to explain I offer this video for your consideration.. or in the words of The Twilight Zone “Submitted for Your Approval”…
Check out their website and facebook page to get a better idea of what’s going on!
http://www.fptower.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frying-Pan-Shoals-Light-Station/121119241261861
BeachRentalsDirect.com
Beachrentalsdirect.com enables owners to rent their house or condo themselves. Renters come out ahead by not having to pay reservation fees and other add ons.
Beach homes and condos as well as golf course condos in the Oak Island, NC area!
Some owners rent their property completely themselves while others are using it as a supplemental advertising vehicle to get more renters and then direct them to their rental management company.
When you find the property that you’d like to rent simply email (or call) the owner to make the arrangements!
There are other “for rent by owner sites” but BeachRentalsDirect.com is the only site focused on rentals along the Carolina Coast. http://BeachRentalsDirect.com
The Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter
March 20, 2011 by gary
Filed under Around The Town
The Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter, on Oak Island, NC, gives sick and injured birds from all of the area islands the chance to both heal both to fly and find food again.
The Shelter cares for injured or orphaned birds providing safety from predators, minimum medical care, food and shelter from the elements.
When an animal is again able to care for itself, it is released back into the wild. The Shelter does not keep nonreleasable animals nor do they use heroic methods to sustain the quality of their life. However, the Shelter makes every effort to rehabilitate any endangered species and every animal brought there is treated with respect and caring.
The shelter has been operated by Mary Ellen Rogers since 2007. After she moved to North Carolina in 2003 and purchased a cottage she named “Sea Biscuit,” Mary Ellen came to the realization that there was no rehabilitation center for local shorebirds that get tangled in fish nets, swallow fish hooks, or are otherwise injured or become orphaned.
The local turtle volunteers and animal control encouraged her to care for injured birds. Mary Ellen volunteered for a term at the SC Center for Birds of Prey and the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter to gain experience. Then she went on to obtain the state and federal permits necessary to open Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter.
Dedicated to birds solely, rather than being a large all encompassing facility, the shelter is located in the lower level of Mary Ellen’s small beach house and in her back yard.
Due to the nature of their injuries or illnesses, some of the birds are kept inside in cages while they recover while others, particularly Brown Pelicans, are kept outside. Mary Ellen’sbackyard now holds three wood and plastic-netted enclosures. The largest enclosure, which is 12′ x 30′ and 12′ high, allows the birds the opportunity to flight train and even hunt for their own food prior to their release. A medium sized enclosure, 8′ x16′ and 8′ high, is for songbirds and gulls or birds needing a lot of privacy. The newest is for the little birds who require flight training prior to their release. The Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter is not open to the public in order to protect the birds from any unnecessary noise or disturbance.
Today while I was making this webpage, Sea Biscuit had a busy day. Within three hours, Mary Ellen received an new emaciated Red-throated Loon that had been bitten by a shark, a cardinal mauled by a cat, and an orphaned mourning dove.
Caring for injured or sick birds is a full-time job requiring rising before dawn, intense labor and money for food, medication and supplies. Some examples of the early morning tasks and many repeated throughout the day, include preparing the special diets required for the different species of birds, changing the towels in the cages, cleaning the 30-gallon aquarium, and weighing the babies. Some of the additional chores include replacing the fresh water into each of the cages, adjusting heating pads and heat lamps for young birds. Many of the birds must be fed by hand and some have to be taken outside for the day. Some of the birds must be tube fed and there are bandages to changed. Multuple loads of towels require washing and drying and each of the bird’s medical chart must be updated after each feeding.
You can help! Because Mary Ellen has such limited space, unless you could send medical supplies, the best way to help is to send a check. All contributions are tax deductible because Sea Biscuit is a 501(c)3 organization. Last year Mary Ellen paid $1,150 to obtain that status.
Your children’s school class could adopt the Shelter as a project by raising money or saving dimes or pennies for a year.
If you are among the 10,000 visitors to each of our islands every week during the summer and enjoy our coastal birds, make a donation that will be helpful and appreciated.
Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter
910-278-7871
1638 East Beach Drive, Oak Island, NC 28465
Click here to see the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter Wish List.
Local Writer/Artist Featured!
March 8, 2011 by gary
Filed under Cool Stuff
Local writer and artist Miller Pope has been busy writing and illustrating eight books over the last several years including a series of pirate books, local history books, a book on illustration techniques as well as a memoir entitled “Confessions of a Mad Man”.
The January 2011 issue of Our State Magazine includes a 4 page color article about Miller in their People section and features a number of his vintage illustrations.
All of miller’s books as well as prints of some of his most popular paintings and illustrations are available for sale online at his website: http://MillerPope.com as well as on: http://Islands-Art.com
The Life and Art of Miller Pope
By Vicky Eckenrode
Photography by Allison Breiner Potter
The desire to take a risk is in almost all of us. The willingness to follow through is in only a few. Miller Pope made decisions overnight and never regretted one, and in the process created a life full of rewards.
Small moments shaped Miller Pope.
There were twists of fate, like when he slipped a party invite under the apartment door of the girls living upstairs. That was how he met Helen, who would become his wife of more than 50 years.
There were snap decisions, like when a friend suggested they move to New York City. He was only 19 then, but making moves for a long, successful career.
“I make up my mind instantly. I’m not one of those people who deliberate,” Pope says.
With all the quick changes and new ventures, one thing was constant — his love of drawing.
It started with paper-bag doodles, as a kid growing up in the wake of the Great Depression, and carried through to wartime illustrations in the United States Marine Corps, then to national ads during the Mad Men era, and it continues today in the books he churns out about southeastern North Carolina.
Pope, who lives in Shallotte, has spent decades creating characters out of pen strokes, and at 81, has no plans of stopping.
“I think happy human beings have to be doing something. I think the worst thing in the world is boredom,” he says, sipping iced tea at The Winds Resort Beach Club. Pope and his wife built the resort after moving to Ocean Isle Beach 40 years ago. “There were many forks in the road. What would have happened if I had taken even one fork different?”
Starting early
Pope, born in 1929 in South Carolina, grew up there in Greenville and the Tennessee mountains. He started in the art business as a first grader, when he’d pay five cents for a composition book, fill it with comics, and sell it to a classmate to make enough money for another blank composition book.
He fixated on drawing comics instead of paying attention in class.
A teen during World War II, Pope was his high school newspaper’s cartoonist and got a job as an assistant window decorator for a local department store. He started on his career path early, becoming the store’s advertising manager at 16.
He joined the Marines at 17, the youngest allowed with parental permission.
After Pope finished basic training and a brief stint as head orderly for a commandant, someone passed his drawings to the editors at the Leatherneck, the Marine Corps magazine that dates back to 1917.
Pope moved to Washington, D.C., and drew illustrations for the rest of his two years in the Marines.
Scraping by
After serving, Pope was ready for the advertising industry. He was working as a freelance illustrator back in Greenville, South Carolina, when his friend called and suggested he make the move to the big time.
In New York City, he continued freelance work illustrating advertisements and art for magazine stories, but starting out was rough.
“I was a little fish in a big pond,” he says. “I damn near starved for a while.”
On the night of the big party, the one he unknowingly invited Helen to, the only light in his apartment was candlelight. He had cut the electricity because he had to move after his roommate skipped out on the rent.
Despite being broke, Pope was steadfast. He remained a freelance illustrator, not hitching himself to one agency. Eventually, he built up clients and hired an art rep to help sell his work. His illustrations appeared in magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s Digest, along with novel covers and textbooks.
The mid-20th century was a heyday for advertising illustrations. Postwar consumerism spread, and in the years before photography dominated ads, drawings of peppy girls and sleek Cadillacs filled magazine pages.
“In those days, all the big agencies were on Madison Avenue,” says Pope, who became the youngest member elected to the Society of Illustrators. “It was a golden age of advertising — at least it certainly was for me. It was for illustrators. There were some illustrators who were almost as popular as movie stars.”
Unwilling to become complacent, Pope jumped into other projects. He started an advertising agency with two friends, a paint-by-number greeting card kit, and a company that consolidated design and visual work for book publishers. It was a busy time, full of cocktail hours and business ventures.
“This is where I want to be”
During his early years in New York City, he spent much of his time with Helen, a copywriter from a well-off New York family.
“Helen was a socialite; her family was in the right clubs,” Pope says. “I was a starving artist. There was something about the bohemian life that really appealed to her. We were about as different as two people could be.”
They married young and spent the next half-century together. Helen died in 2003 after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
It was Helen’s idea to move to North Carolina. It was 1969. They’d spent a couple of decades living in New York and Connecticut with their two children, when they took a trip to a family reunion at the beach. Ankle-deep in the water, Helen declared she wanted to move to Ocean Isle Beach, which at the time was little more than a remote stretch of sand.
“Miller, this is where I want to be,” she told him.
The Pope family bought property that year and moved south six years later, after they’d built four units on it to rent out when they weren’t there. They dubbed it The Four Winds, the first of several Winds properties that led to the current hotel resort.
Ocean Isle Beach was a far different place then than the collage of million-dollar beach homes and businesses that make up the town today.
“I’m leaving this party life and going to an island that has probably a dozen houses on it,” Pope recalls. “There were interesting people from other places. We’d meet people from all over. It was a very happy existence.”
After they moved to Ocean Isle Beach, the couple became increasingly involved in the community.
“Helen became the fiercest North Carolina partisan you’d ever met,” he says of his wife, who hailed from Scarsdale, New York. “She loved North Carolina, the people. She loved the beach.”
Helen came up with the moniker South Brunswick Islands to market the area, and they helped start the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce.
The couple met with state tourism officials and pushed to get the road to Ocean Isle Beach included on the state’s official road map. They organized golf trips for New York illustrators and cartoonists, constantly promoting the area.
“Nobody had ever heard about this part of North Carolina. It was unknown,” says Pope, who was still doing freelance illustrations at the time.
He bought into a land deal with friends for 700 acres of dense woods along the Intracoastal Waterway around Sunset Beach. He had 24 hours to make the decision, and he had never even seen the property. But that, too, panned out, evolving into the sprawling Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center.
A little luck
Today, Pope’s children run The Winds, while Pope narrows his attention down to just the projects he finds most interesting.
Right now, that means pouring creative energy into writing and illustrating books.
In 2009, he wrote an autobiography, Confessions of a Madman, chronicling his life from Appalachian Tennessee to Madison Avenue to coastal North Carolina.
A modest man who no longer cares about chasing money or accolades, Pope says he wrote the book simply because he wanted to.
“I just wanted my grandchildren to know what an unusual life I had,” he says of his autobiography. “There’s a novel in every person. Everybody has a story. I’m not unique in that.”
Pope recently finished writing his first fiction book — a crime novel called The Haunted Lighthouse Murders that appeals to his love of old film-noir movies and detective stories.
“I hope it’s got some Raymond Chandler in it,” he says. “I don’t know if anybody’s going to be interested in it. If I wasn’t creating something, I’d go crazy. I’m happiest when I’m drawing, but now I find writing creative.”
Jacqueline DeGroot, a writer in Sunset Beach and one of Pope’s closest friends, has collaborated on several books with him. One of the most interesting things about Pope’s work is that it continues to evolve, she says.
Pope, never satisfied settling on one medium for his illustrations, now does much of his drawing on his computer.
“He is constantly teaching himself,” says DeGroot, who has known Pope since the mid-1970s. “He has learned unbelievably complicated software just by doing or using it. He didn’t read manuals. He didn’t go to a seminar. He’s like a kid with a toy when something new comes out. He paints beautifully on the computer.”
In recent years, Pope has worked on a handful of books on topics ranging from local history to pirates, and he has several more ideas pending.
“I’m into producing books, even if nobody reads them,” he says. “I have found what I love to do. I could never fully retire. I’ve been extraordinarily lucky. I was lucky in meeting Helen. When you look back in a long life, you think about the turns in the road, all the little things that could have happened and by chance — it’s all luck. That, and I’ve never been afraid to try something.”
Visit
Visit millerpope.com to learn more about Miller Pope’s books and illustrations and view a gallery of his work.
Vicky Eckenrode lives in Wilmington, where she writes for the StarNews.
Islands-Art.com – is a new e-commerce website featuring books, photography and other works by artists and writers of the islands of Coastal Carolina.
The coastal islands of the area have long been a magnet to artists and writers who discover the beauty and romance of the area and decide to put down roots.
Islands Art features Giclée Prints by nationally renowned local nature photographer and artist, Ken Buckner, the books of Miller Pope (founder of The Winds Resort and Sea Trail Golf Resort), mystery novelist Tom Rieber and renowned local Romance Novelists Jacqueline DeGroot and Peggy Grich.
Also The History of Ocean Isle Beach book and Audio Driving Tour 2 CD Set by local authors Fred R David and Vern J. Bender
Visitors to the site can learn about these artists and writers and purchase their works along with T-shirts and other apparel featuring their works of art.
The site has just been launched and offers dozens of books and prints. New works will be added going forward as the site expands!
Click here to take a look: http://www.islands-art.com
