History

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Effective Jan. 27, 2025: Construction has begun on a new Nature Walk and Visitor Center at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The tram stop and temporary restrooms have been relocated to the left of the construction fence.

This 1,640-acre park features a variety of habitats: pristine beaches, freshwater coastal dune lakes, old-growth longleaf pine forests and wetlands.

Evidence from midden mounds (discarded debris from Native American communities) and a large mound adjacent to the park, indicate that Native Americans used this area for fishing, hunting and camping.

From the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, workers from the Quarters Turpentine Village turpentined old-growth longleaf pines in forests now part of Topsail Hill.