Southport is a city in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Its population was 3,971 as of the 2020 census. The current mayor, Joe Pat Hatem, was elected to a two-year term in November 2025.

Southport is the location of the North Carolina Fourth of July Festival, which attracts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors annually.

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 suspect was arrested while loading his boat in Oak Island a short time later.

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.

Climate

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.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Southport had a population of 3,971. The median age was 62.9 years. 10.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 44.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 78.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 78.2 males age 18 and over.

99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,985 households in Southport, of which 11.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.9% were married-couple households, 13.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Media

The city is serviced by the newspaper The State Port Pilot. Radio stations WAZO/107.5 & WJSL-LP/100.7 are licensed to Southport.

The city of Southport has been the location the TV seriesRevenge and Under the Dome.Films made in Southport include I Know What You Did Last Summer, Summer Catch, Domestic Disturbance, Crimes of the Heart, Mary and Martha, Nights in Rodanthe, 'The Waterfront', A Walk to Remember and Safe Haven. Greedy People filming took place between May 9 and June 11, 2022.

Education

The school district for the entire county is the Brunswick County Schools school district.

Notable people

  • Wanda G. Bryant (born 1956), judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals
  • Margaret Craighill (1898–1977), psychiatrist and the first female commissioned officer in the United States Army Medical Corps
  • Abraham Galloway (1837–1870), freedman, freedom fighter, and member of the North Carolina Senate
  • Peter Hans, president of the University of North Carolina
  • Jean Heller, writer and investigative journalist
  • Mike Johnson (born 1962), football player
  • Quinton McCracken (born 1970), baseball player
  • Henry Hamilton McCreary (1861–1921), member of the Florida Senate
  • Bertha McNeil (1887–1979), civil rights activist, peace activist, and educator
  • Bonner L. Stiller (born 1956), member of the North Carolina House of Representatives

See also

  • Dosher Memorial Hospital

References

  • City of Southport official website