Second Spire to the Right

Most of us east coasters have some memory of rising to greet the sun on a beach trip.

Maybe it’s a girls trip with six crammed into an one-bedroom airbnb. The sunrisers stir awake to the stifled tones of the designated alarm clock. It’s so early, and you’ve of course all been up so late. Nonetheless, you tiptoe past the sleepers, pulling on sweatshirts even though it’s summer, flip-flopping discreetly out the door into the faint glow of a night about to break. The sunrise-seekers stumble wordlessly down quiet streets gritted with sand, drawn by the faint sounds of sleepy waves. Flip flops shuffle off as rough boardwalk becomes cool, powdery sand. The ocean waves are gentle and smooth in these early morning hours, a watery curtain rippling for the main event. The navy blue sky takes on a shimmery glow before the blazing edges the sun bursts through. Soon the foam will take on the pink hues of the sky, and the wave will appear to have flames behind it the brighter the sun ascends.

It may be surprising to learn that there is a beach on the east coast called Sunset Beach, and that it is so named because there, the sunset is the main event. Nestled above the border between North and South Carolina, Sunset Beach is a quiet, largely residential island. Sunset Beach is south-facing, giving it the rarity of an ocean sunrise on one end of the island and a sunset over the other.

For years, only a small wooden bridge connected the island to mainland North Carolina. Saturdays, which marked the beginning and end of most beach house rentals, the line of cars leaving and entering the Island would be at a long winding standstill. In the years since, however, a towering concrete causeway has replaced it. Driving up the causeway now means a more dramatic arrival to the island. The marshy Intercoastal Waterway stretches out beneath, but at its crest the ocean itself is visible in the distance.

The ocean is central to life on Sunset Beach. There are of course the beachy shops, island market, and ice cream shop in town, but the Island itself seems designed to showcase the sea. Even the ocean front homes are cushioned in a section of dune grass and on either ends of the Island the houses give way to vast stretches of sand and dune.

During the day the beaches are pleasantly buzzing with swimmers and beach umbrellas, clearing out at dinner time. As dusk falls, though, the beach chairs will begin to reappear. Delighted dogs and pockets of pedestrians wander the beaches as the daylight melts into sunset. The ocean calmly reflects the sky’s canvas as the wind whips, and the warm, frothy, fingertips of the smallest waves grasp the feet of the very brave.

The curtain of each day closes in Sunset Beach with the same grandeur with which it rises across the east coast. Sunset Beach, indeed.