Southport History

The first Spanish explorers to the region arrived in 1521, but it was further up the Cape Fear River that the first settlement, Brunswick Town was formed in the mid-1700s. Between 1745 and 1754 Fort Johnson was built as quarantine service for incoming seamen and to protect settlements further up the river. Located at the mouth of the Cape Fear, Fort Johnson attracted a small community of river pilots and fishermen and the area began to thrive.

In 1792, the NC General Assembly, at the request of Joshua Potts, commissioned a new township and what is now known as Southport was born. The new town was originally named Smithville, after Benjamin Smith who served under George Washington in the revolutionary war. Cool summer breezes soon made Smithville a popular summer resort, and its strategic location made Fort Johnston important in every United States war. In 1808, Smithville became the county seat of Brunswick County.

After the Civil War, entrepreneurial and visionary businessmen saw opportunity to create a major southern port city by combining the city’s river transportation with the new railroad system which was changing the face of the United States. As part of their strategy, Smithville was renamed Southport in 1887. Telegraph service and a coaling dock for steamships were added. Although Southport never became the major port city they dreamed of, railroads served the town from 1911 to World War II and it was on the river steamer routes until 1925.