Eagles Island Nature Park invites the world to the Cape Fear Region and unites the counties, cities, and communities of southeastern North Carolina through conservation, education, and recreation.
A Once-In-A-Generation Opportunity
About Eagles Island Nature Park
First appearing on North Carolina maps in 1671 as Cranes Island, Eagles Island occupies one of the most remarkable landscapes on the Atlantic coast. Situated at the confluence of the Cape Fear and Brunswick Rivers, the island has played a central role in the ecological, cultural, and economic history of southeastern North Carolina for more than three centuries.
Today, Eagles Island remains one of the region’s greatest conservation opportunities. Its thousands of acres of tidal wetlands, historic rice fields, maritime industrial sites, forests, and waterways provide an extraordinary setting where natural and cultural history converge. From Native American settlement and Gullah Geechee rice cultivation to shipbuilding, maritime commerce, and modern environmental restoration, Eagles Island tells the story of the Cape Fear region.
The nonprofit Eagles Island Nature Park was established to preserve this unique landscape while creating carefully planned opportunities for public access, education, recreation, and historical interpretation. Working in partnership with public agencies, conservation organizations, educational institutions, local governments, and the growing Friends of Eagles Island, the organization is transforming more than two decades of planning into a long-term conservation and public access initiative.
As southeastern North Carolina continues to experience unprecedented growth, Eagles Island offers a rare opportunity to protect an irreplaceable landscape while providing future generations with opportunities to experience its rich ecological, historical, and maritime heritage. Initial projects focus on low-impact public access, including paddle trails, educational programming, interpretive exhibits, and conservation initiatives that respect the island’s sensitive natural resources while helping people discover one of North Carolina’s hidden treasures
Vision
Eagles Island Nature Park will be a nationally recognized landscape where conservation, history, recreation, and education come together to connect people with the natural and cultural heritage of southeastern North Carolina.
Mission
The mission of Eagles Island Nature Park is to conserve, interpret, and celebrate the natural, cultural, and maritime heritage of Eagles Island through conservation, education, research, partnerships, and thoughtfully planned public access for the benefit of present and future generations.
A World-Class Nature Park
By prioritizing conservation and responsible development of park infrastructure and amenities, Eagles Island Nature Park can provide a transformational enhancement to the educational and recreational resources serving the surrounding communities and the Lower Cape Fear region. Directly adjacent to Wilmington (2020 population: 126,000), as well as northern Bruswick County, one of the fastest growing areas in North Carolina, public access to a natural area of this size will serve local residents as an invaluable amenity and promote cultural and eco-tourism.
Education
An educational center and riverfront park area welcomes visitors to Eagles Island Nature Park and can host a multitude of interpretive and informational exhibits most pertinent to the island and the broader Cape Fear region.
Recreation
Miles of paddle trails surrounding Eagles Island and the maze of interior creeks and canals afford immersive access to the site’s natural landscape and history while also connecting to existing local andregional blueway networks.
Conservation
For areas of the island that have been heavily modified by historic land uses, ecological restoration can improve wildlife habitat and water quality, demonstrate emerging restoration techniques, and augment conservation efforts across the island.
Eagles Island Has a Rich Natural and Cultural History
A Brief History of Eagles Island
For thousands of years, Eagles Island has stood at the confluence of the Cape Fear and Brunswick Rivers, where tides, fresh water, and fertile wetlands created one of the most productive ecosystems on the Atlantic coast. Long before European settlement, Native peoples lived, hunted, fished, and traveled these waterways, relying on the island’s abundant natural resources.
The island first appeared on maps in 1671, when it was identified as “Cranes Island.” During the colonial era, it became part of one of North America’s most ambitious rice-growing landscapes. Enslaved Africans, many of whom brought sophisticated knowledge of tidal rice cultivation from West Africa, engineered an extensive system of dikes, canals, floodgates, and embankments that transformed thousands of acres of tidal marsh into productive rice plantations. Today, these remarkable earthworks remain among the island’s most significant cultural landscapes and stand as a lasting testament to the skill, resilience, and contributions of the Gullah Geechee people.
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, portions of Eagles Island had evolved into one of the Cape Fear region’s busiest industrial waterfronts. Marine railways, shipyards, lumber mills, fertilizer plants, creosote works, railroads, warehouses, and ferry landings lined the shoreline opposite downtown Wilmington. Ships from around the world called along its wharves, helping establish Wilmington as one of the South’s leading ports.
During the twentieth century, changing transportation systems, the decline of waterfront industries, dredging projects, and new development gradually transformed the island. Some industries disappeared, leaving behind abandoned shipwrecks, forgotten rail lines, and remnants of once-thriving maritime businesses. At the same time, thousands of acres of wetlands continued to provide vital habitat for fish, birds, wildlife, and migratory species throughout the Cape Fear River estuary.
Recognizing the island’s extraordinary ecological and historical significance, conservation efforts began in 2001 with the donation of 52 acres to the New Hanover Soil & Water Conservation District. That initial gift sparked more than two decades of research, planning, land conservation, and community collaboration. Landmark milestones included the publication of Eagles Island: A History of a Landscape in 2011, the Eagles Island Conservation Management Plan in 2015, the work of the Eagles Island Central Park Task Force, and ultimately the establishment of the nonprofit Eagles Island Nature Park.
Today, the Board of Directors and the growing Friends of Eagles Island are working with conservation organizations, historians, scientists, educators, and public agencies to preserve this remarkable landscape while creating carefully planned opportunities for public access, education, recreation, and historical interpretation. The vision is to ensure that Eagles Island’s rich ecological, cultural, and maritime heritage is protected and shared with future generations.
