Southport

History

The Southport area was explored in the 1500s by Spanish explorers. During the 18th century, British settlements along the Carolina coast lacked fortifications to protect against pirates and privateers, and numerous Spanish attackers exploited this weakness. In response to these attacks, Governor Gabriel Johnston in 1744 appointed a committee to select the best location to construct a fort for the defense of the Cape Fear River region. It was determined that the fort should be constructed at a site at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. During the same year, France declared war against Britain, later known as King George's War, increasing the fort's need. Further, increasingly bold Spanish privateer raids led the North Carolina General Assembly to authorize the construction of "Johnston's Fort" in April 1745, which would come to be known as Fort Johnston. The governor of South Carolina agreed to lend ten small cannons for the fort, and the legislature, in spring 1748, appropriated 2,000 pounds for construction costs, and construction finally began. Southport developed around Fort Johnston. Southport was founded as the town of Smithville in 1792. Joshua Potts had requested the formation of a town adjacent to Fort Johnston, and the North Carolina General Assembly formed a commission of five men to administer its founding. The town was named after Benjamin Smith, a colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later governor of North Carolina. In an effort to promote the town as a major shipping port, Smithville was renamed Southport in 1887. On September 27, 2025, a person opened fire from a boat in the Intracoastal Waterway at the American Fish Company in the Yacht Basin area of the city. Three people were killed and a further six were injured. The…

Geography

Southport is located in southeastern Brunswick County on the northwest bank of the tidal Cape Fear River, approximately inland from the Atlantic Ocean. North Carolina Highway 211 enters the city from the north as North Howe Street and travels south to one block north of the waterfront, where it turns east as East Moore Street, leading northeast to the city limits, where it turns east again as Ferry Road on its way to the western terminus of the Southport–Fort Fisher ferry across the Cape Fear River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.73%, is water. Southport has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). Summers in Southport are very hot and humid while winters are very mild by North Carolina standards. Southport is the warmest place in the state of North Carolina, with a yearly average temperature of , with annual temperatures more similar to that of coastal Georgia or the northern Gulf Coast of Florida than the rest of North Carolina.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,942
• Brown Pelican

  Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  8,197
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,101
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  7,247
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,448
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,954
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  5,673
• Double-crested Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson, 1831) · Aves
  5,646

Largest nearby schools

• South Brunswick High
  High · Southport · 1,172 students · 17.2:1 ratio
• South Brunswick Middle
  Middle · Southport · 572 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Southport Elementary
  Elementary · Southport · 403 students · 14.4:1 ratio