NEW HANOVER COUNTY — It was advertised as “a Negro Atlantic City.” Built by white developers in 1923 on a 70-acre strip of sand north of Wrightsville Beach, the Shell Island Resort was one of the first places where Blacks could go to enjoy the beach in the oppressive Jim Crow America. Thousands of visitors … Continue reading White sand, Shell Island: The 20th century ‘Negro Atlantic City’ that never was