Emerald Isle

Emerald Isle is a town on the northern barrier island Bogue Banks Island that has beaches on the Atlantic Ocean side and on the Bogue Inlet side. In 1954, Emerald Isle was purchased from a Mrs. Anita Fort Maulik of Philadelphia for $350,000, which was the largest recorded sale in NC at the time, and as a developer flew over the island to map out the plan for it, he said it looked like a “beautiful emerald resting in a sparkling sea” and declared “This place shall be known as Emerald Isle”. The late development of the town led to a slow increase in population, but over the last few years, has skyrocketed due to COVID relocations. In 2020, there were only 10 houses sold above $750K and by 2021, that number had increased to 48 houses.