• About 'Topsail Island'

    • TOPSAIL ISLAND: MAYBERRY BY THE SEA
    Available in both Hardcover ($19.95 retail) and Paperback ($12.95 retail)
    Order     from the Publisher     		       AFTER A WEEK-LONG FAMILY VACATION on Topsail Island, Ray McAllister went home and wrote a newspaper column about the place where everyone goes 10 miles per hour under the speed limit. This column in The Richmond Times-Dispatch brought a deluge of responses from readers who shared his appreciation for this barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.

       As if caught in a time warp, Topsail resembles the resorts of decades past. It has the small-town feel of a family beach, a place with few commercial trappings whose devotees return generation after generation.

       In this book, McAllister tells the many stories of Topsail with the help of those who love the island best. He blends current-day interviews with stories of early pirates, devastating hurricanes, a 1940s dig in search of a 1630 Spanish galleon's treasure, the U.S. government's secret rocket program, a modern-day sea-turtle preservation project, and a black bear who came to stroll the beach.

       The critically acclaimed "Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea" has gone into four printings (two hardcover, two paperback) in its first four months of release.

    CONTENTS
    Map
    Preface
    Chapter One Mayberry by the Sea
    Chapter Two Early Days . . . and Pirates!
    Chapter Three The Gold Hole
    Chapter Four Towers
    Chapter Five Piers
    Chapter Six Hurricanes
    Chapter Seven Topsail Beach
    Chapter Eight Surf City
    Chapter Nine Ocean City
    Chapter Ten North Topsail
    Chapter Eleven Vacations
    Chapter Twelve The Collapse
    Chapter Thirteen Cottages
    Chapter Fourteen Photographs
    Chapter Fifteen The Law . . . and the Bear
    Chapter Sixteen Waters
    Chapter Seventeen Turtles
    Chapter Eighteen Songwriters
    Chapter Nineteen The Point
    Chapter Twenty Mayberry Tomorrow
    Acknowledgments
    References
    Index
    “TOPSAIL ISLAND: MAYBERRY BY THE SEA”
    WINS NORTH CAROLINA HISTORIANS AWARD

         SANFORD, N.C., Oct. 13, 2007 – “Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea” was awarded a Willie Parker Peace History Book Award by the North Carolina Society of Historians at its annual awards banquet Saturday.
         “Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea,” written by Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch columnist Ray McAllister, is published by John F. Blair, Publisher, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
         “This is [a book] to curl up in a chair with and read from cover to cover,” the judges said. “It deals with an array of interesting subjects, from the early days when pirates sailed the seas, to a bear running across the beach and scaring vacationers to death . . . . Then there is the Turtle Hospital, songwriters from the area, the fishermen, the fascinating names people [give] their cottages and houses, hurricanes, different beach areas and the piers. So much fascinating, interesting information in such a little book!”
         The judges said they “felt sorry for the pirates of yesterday who had to search for and dig up their treasure. Ours was handed to us for judging.”
         The 228-page book has had two hardcover and two paperback printings since being published in July 2006. McAllister’s second island book, “Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island,” was published by Blair this summer.
         The author will be signing copies of “Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea” from 1-2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 21, at Quarter Moon Books & Gifts in Topsail Beach. The book is also available at most other book-selling shops on Topsail for $19.95 (hardcover) and $12.95 (paperback).
         McAllister will sign both the Topsail and Wrightsville books at Richmond’s two Books-A-Million stores on Sat., Oct. 20, and at two Richmond Barnes and Nobles stores on Sat., Oct. 27. Details are available at www.RayMcAllisterBooks.com and at www.BlairPub.com.
         The North Carolina Society of Historians was established in 1941 for the purposes of collecting, preserving and perpetuating North Carolina’s history and for recognizing those persons who fulfill the society’s objectives.
         At the annual banquet, held at Carolina Trace Country Club, the society presented multiple awards in 12 historical and genealogical categories: History Books, Publishers, Multimedia, Journal, Newsletter, Society, Religious History Books, Newspaper and Magazine Articles, Family History Books, Historical Fiction, and Museums. It also presented an award for Historian of the Year.