Sunset Beach, part 2

We decided to walk the other half of the island today.  We walked all the way to the end both days, so we've covered the whole thing.

We saw this eagle just sitting on the beach!

He took off as we got close.

And then landed in front of us again!

And took off again.

Here we are, at the eastern end of the island.  That's Ocean Isle over there.

We went to where they have preserved the old bridge, which is almost right under the new bridge.  This is the center portion that would swing out of the way to let boat traffic by every hour.

The little building is where the bridge keeper would stay.  Someone had to man the bridge 24 hours a day, to be sure both boats and cars could get where they needed to go.

These are the controls that were used to open and close the bridge.

We were told a man bought the island in 1955 for about $55,000.  He built the first bridge himself.  The old bridge (which had been rebuilt a couple of times, but always in the same style) was in operation until just 5 years ago.  It was just a one lane bridge, and swung open every hour to let boats through.  The lady at the bridge museum said traffic could get really backed up in the summertime when all the rentals houses were filled with thousands of people.

I found another sand dollar today!  This one is really tiny, barely bigger than a quarter.