Soon after crossing the drawbridge from the mainland, you’ll reach a fork in the road. Bearing left will take you to the famous Johnnie Mercer’s Fishing Pier and near the site where a giant sperm whale named Trouble once washed ashore and refused to leave. Bearing right will take you to the classic downtown and points south, including the Coast Guard station and the site of the late, great Lumina Pavillion. Wrightsville Beach is Ray McAllister’s homage to a special place, a book that captures not only Wrightsville’s history but its heart. Along the way, he shares stories of fire and and hurricanes and beach trolleys and Big Bands. Through all the changes, Wrightsville has never forgotten the hospitality that made it such a destination in the first place. Just ask the airplane full of Pennsylvanians who fled here to escape one of America’s first man-made disasters. Or the thousands who continue to come for happier reasons today.