Lumina positions Wrightsville Beach like no other resort.
Summer feels incomplete without a road trip to the beach. And though Folly Beach or Sullivan’s Island are familiar destinations, North Carolina’s Wrightsville Beach is something special if you’re willing to drive an hour more. One of the classic beachfront hotels has undergone a major makeover, and it is something to experience. Lumina exceeded my beach trip expectations in lots of ways, big and small.
The reimagined resort offers a mix of modern amenities and beachside nostalgia. It’s the handiwork of OTO Development, the Upstate hotelier based in Spartanburg, with 65+ properties in its portfolio. It was Wrightsville Beach’s original Holiday Inn, and the imprint remains. The stellar location boasts beautiful vistas and a beachfront address.
A year and a half in the making, the seven-story resort now offers 184 rooms, three pools, two hot tubs, a trio of food and beverage concepts, a hammock park, event lawn, and expansive, sandy beach. In a palette of azure blue, navy, cream, and accented with stained woodgrain, interiors at Lumina mimic what sits just outside the door. It feels seamless walking from hotel to beach, with only air conditioning creating a noticeable change.
Maybe what I like best about the property is the combination of rooms available and their clever design. Beds are often positioned for ocean views. In lieu of closets, roomy cubbies can hold suitcases or beach gear. Some rooms include bunkbeds and pull-out couches (that are actually comfortable). There are desks and consoles and efficient dining areas in junior suites.
The lobby wraps around an elevator bank, creating multiple places to sit a spell, hop on a laptop, or sip a drink. A terrace with umbrella tables beckons, offering views of the pool and the sea. There’s an adorable coffee bar and market called Longboard, and the restaurant on property, Solstice Oceanfront Kitchen + Cocktails, constructs a dynamite crab cake.
A downstairs lobby offers extra space to gather with two ping-pong tables and comfortable seating. It’s a fun spot to get out of the sun for a bit or play around after dinner. An effort to use every inch of the property to its best advantage feels palpable; even the gym has an ocean view. OTO enlisted DLR Group to help with the design, and construction was completed by The Allied Group. The hope was to make the very most out of Lumina’s iconic on-the-sand address and allow the seascape to play a pivotal role in its design. Mission accomplished.
Shining Bright at Lumina
Lumina’s storied location is rich with tradition. The Lumina Pavilion was constructed in 1905. It was three stories, lit by 1,000 incandescent bulbs with its name spelled out on the roof. Often called “The Palace of Light,” it was the brainchild of Hugh MacRae, who owned the local utility company. His aim was to feature the wonder of electricity. The Lumina Pavilion also happened to be the final stop on the trolley line, which he also owned.
It included a 25,000-square-foot dance hall and a movie theater with a screen so large it could be viewed from the beach. It became such a popular attraction that a ballroom and bandstand were soon added. For half a century, much of the social scene in Wrightsville Beach centered around Lumina. By the 1950s the trolley route had been canceled, and in 1954 Hurricane Hazel irreparably damaged the pavilion. Officials voted to demolish the structure in 1973, and The Lumina was lost to a bygone era.
Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project
A concentration of loggerhead nests in the US occur along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida. Each one is counted and watched by trained volunteers in hopes of buoying the endangered species.
From May through August, a corps from the Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project walks the beach tip to tail looking for tracks in the sand at dawn, roping off nests, and monitoring for evidence of turtle babies. Sick or injured loggerheads are taken to a center in Surf City to be rehabilitated and returned to the ocean.
Small habits make a big difference when it comes to sea turtles:
- Fill holes. It’s fun to make sand pits, but baby sea turtles are tiny, and a hole can create an entrapment.
- Skip the straw when ordering drinks. Single use plastics are a huge source of litter in oceans, and straws are extremely dangerous to marine life.
- Properly dispose of fishing line when fishing from a beach or pier.
- Turn off beach-facing lights. Hatchlings are drawn to the brightest light on the beach, and that needs to be the night sky over the ocean.
Lumina on Wrightsville Beach, a Holiday Inn Resort, 1706 N. Lumina Ave.,910.256.2231, LuminaResortWrightsville.com
