When the Beach House closed several years ago, it left a void in the Ogden area according to the new owners of the building, which has been rebranded as the Seven Mile Post Pub.

OGDEN — Downtown Wilmington might be home to a good portion of the city’s nightlife but located seven miles from the heart of the city, just outside the municipal limits, a new pub (in the former home of a longtime watering hole), is ready to welcome its neighbors in for a drink.

It’s been several years since the Beach House in Ogden closed, a neighborhood bar located just off of Market Street in Ogden. The closing left somewhat of a void in the area which is why Trevor Rice and wife Holly Abbuhl decided it was time to take the plunge and keep the neighborhood pub alive while making it their own. Along with their business partners John and Kim Hewlett they are almost ready to welcome guests to Ogden’s newest bar, Seven Mile Pub Post.

With more than two decades in the bar business, Rice and Abbuhl have plenty of experience in the service industry, but it would be a first for Rice when it comes to owning his own bar.

Plans to open their own bar have been in the works for two years, but it didn’t become a reality until February of this past year when they finally took over the former Beach House location.

“My wife and I, we live back here, and when he shut down [the Beach House] it really left a void in this area and having been at the Taproom as long as I was I realized it’s just such a great area … The day they opened the Lendire Road extension, I called Holly and said ‘we have to get in there right now,'” Rice said.

While the layout of the new bar is mostly the same as before, the team has made several improvements and changes to the interior, as well as the back patio area.

There’s also some recent history that has been preserved at Seven Mile Post Pub — the effects of Hurricane Florence.

Interior walls along with the outdoor live music stage are all adorned with pieces of wood reclaimed from fences throughout the neighborhood that were blown down by the devastating hurricane last year.

“Basically all the wood that is on the inside, we took old fences that were knocked down from the hurricane and just took all the pickets apart, repurposed it all … it’s all from the neighborhood,” Rice said.

What’s in the name?

For some, a name is just that — a title. But there is some history behind Seven Mile Post’s moniker.

Unless you have lived in the area for several decades, the existence of railroad tracks that paralleled Market Street might come as a surprise, Rice said.

“Proceeding north into what we now call Ogden, was a 2-lane road winding through dense wood with a few houses along the way. Intersections had gas stations, grocery stores, and motels, but it was a typical country road. Up until the 1980s, a railroad paralleled Market Street. It was a busy railroad that connected Wilmington and New Bern initially. There were small stops every 3-4 miles. In Ogden, there were two stops. At Gordon Road was “Baymeade,” after the plantation, and at Middle Sound Road was “Seven Mile Post,” according to the history of the bar, which will be hung in the window for everyone to read.

The Ogen area has experienced a recent influx in new construction, from Publix to Sour Barn (which is located directly in front of Seven Mile Post Pub), the area is quickly becoming more developed offering residents in the northern part of New Hanover County plenty of variety.

Seven Mile Post Pub plans to open soon, aiming for Tuesday, August 6, Rice said. The bar is located at 7219 Market St.

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