Topsail Island

There are three separate towns on Topsail Island: North Topsail Beach, Surf City and Topsail Beach.

• North Topsail Beach - the north end of the island.
• Surf City - in the middle with approximately half on the island (a majority of the island businesses) and half on the mainland.
• Topsail Beach - the south end of the island edged by Topsail Inlet.

Topsail Island faces the Atlantic Ocean, with the sound side lying along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway within both Onslow County and Pender County.

New River Inlet is on the north end of North Topsail Beach with Stump Sound which is full of broken trees (from prior coastal storms) as well as fish, oysters, clams and shrimp. Those with canoes and kayaks alike will love the whole area because of the many places having easy access to the ocean as well as the sound.

North Topsail Beach consists of several beach resorts, lots of RV and trailer camping sites, and many property complexes. The North Topsail Beach portion of the Topsail Island is well known as a fisherman's paradise.

Surf City begins on the mainland, crosses over the swing bridge and extends both north and south several miles from the 'downtown' business district.
Most of the Topsail Island businesses catering to beach visitors are here, with gift shops, beachwear, fishing stores, and vacation rental agents. Surf City has a Hardee's, ACE Hardware, Wings, Amoco station and even a take out Japanese-Chinese restaurant. Many of the beach motels are near here as well as  most of the restaurants. Several fresh seafood shops are located near the boat docks with a lot of the fish going straight from the ocean to the boat to the store.

There are two bridges connecting Topsail Island to the mainland - State Highway 50/210, the swing bridge, enters the island in the middle at Surf City. State Highway 210 is a high rise bridge that enters North Topsail Beach  through Sneads Ferry.

While there seems to be many houses along the beach, much of Topsail Island remains natural and undeveloped. Topsail still has the flavor of a yesteryear family beach with mostly private cottages that have belonged to families for generations.