Things to Do on the Holden Beach-Ocean Isle ICW Corridor
This corridor's recreation identity runs through golf, boating, and marina-community life rather than the beach, boardwalk, and pier activities either island's own hub page covers -- a genuinely different, more mainland-oriented set of things to actually do here.
Golf: Two Real, Named Courses on This Corridor
Brick Landing Plantation's 18-hole golf course -- known locally as "The Brick" and built in 1987 along the Lockwood Folly River near the ICW -- is regarded, per regional golf coverage, as one of North Carolina's finer courses, and has recently featured new Bermuda greens. Lockwood Folly, in Supply, offers its own golf course as part of its broader amenity package alongside a clubhouse, pool, and tennis/pickleball courts. Both are real, currently operating, named golf facilities specific to this corridor's mainland side -- a genuinely different recreational anchor than either island's own beach-and-pier activity list.
ICW Boat Touring: The Corridor as a Destination in Itself
Simply running the roughly 10-mile stretch of protected Intracoastal water between Mile Marker 323.6 (Holden Beach Bridge) and Mile Marker 333.7 (Odell Williamson Bridge) is itself a real recreational activity for anyone with water access here -- passing Sunset Harbor, the Lockwood Folly River's approach to Varnamtown, and the three named mainland marina communities along the way. That kind of protected-water, marsh-and-marina scenery running is a genuinely different boating experience than an offshore run, and it's accessible to a much wider range of boat types and skill levels given the ICW's sheltered, no-wave-action character compared to open ocean.
Marina and Community Amenities
For residents and guests of this corridor's gated communities, each offers its own amenity package as a real, day-to-day recreation option: Seascape at Holden Plantation's dockhouse and dual boat launch, Ocean Isle Marina & Yacht Club's on-site bar and WiFi-equipped lounge area at Sommersett, and Brick Landing Plantation's combined golf-and-marina setting. These are member/resident-oriented amenities rather than general-public attractions, but they're a real, substantial part of what daily life and leisure actually look like for anyone living in one of these three communities.
Varnamtown: A Real Working Village Worth Seeing, Not Just Passing Through
For anyone interested in genuine, working Southern coastal culture rather than a resort recreation, Varnamtown offers a real, currently active shrimp-boat harbor and a settlement history reaching back to around 1860 -- a legitimately different kind of coastal experience than a planned amenity community. This page does not claim Varnamtown offers formal visitor attractions or tours -- it's a small, working town, not a tourism destination -- but its authenticity as a functioning fishing village on this same corridor is worth understanding as part of what makes this stretch of Brunswick County distinct from either island's more tourism-built environment.
Fishing as a Standalone Activity
Beyond boat touring for its own sake, this corridor's rivers and marsh -- the Lockwood Folly River, the Shallotte River, and the ICW itself -- offer real, documented inshore fishing for redfish and speckled trout, covered in more depth on this site's own Fishing Guide page for this corridor. For a visitor or new resident without their own boat, that kind of structure-and-tide-dependent inshore fishing generally requires a local guide familiar with this specific corridor's creek mouths and dock lines rather than a generic fishing-charter booking, since regional fishing coverage describes redfish and trout location shifting meaningfully with tide stage and water temperature here.
Wildlife and Marsh Scenery
The marsh and tidal-creek environment surrounding this corridor's rivers and canals supports the kind of coastal wildlife viewing -- wading birds, osprey, and similar marsh-edge species -- that a paddler or slow-moving boater can genuinely take in while transiting the corridor's protected water, a different experience than an oceanfront beach walk. This page did not find a specific, named wildlife-viewing site or guided nature-tour operator serving this corridor directly, and does not claim one exists -- this is presented as a general, plausible feature of the corridor's marsh geography rather than a confirmed attraction.
A Day Trip Along the Corridor Itself
For anyone with any kind of boat -- a center console, a pontoon, or even a kayak for the calmer stretches -- simply running some or all of the roughly 10-mile corridor between the two bridges, stopping at Sharky's for lunch, and getting a look at Varnamtown's working docks along the way makes for a genuinely self-contained day trip that doesn't require either island's own beach at all. That kind of corridor-as-destination framing is a real, practical way to think about a day of recreation here, distinct from treating this stretch purely as transit water between two beach vacations.
Access to Either Island's Own Attractions
This corridor's mainland communities sit close enough to both islands to reach their own attractions -- this site's Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach hub pages cover each island's own beach, pier, and attraction landscape (including Ocean Isle Beach's Museum of Coastal Carolina) in depth. From Brick Landing Plantation specifically, Ocean Isle Beach's own sand is roughly 3 miles away by road. This page does not restate either island's own attraction list here -- see each island's own Things to Do page on this site for that detail, and treat this corridor's own recreation identity (golf, boating, marina life, and Varnamtown's working waterfront) as a genuinely separate, complementary set of activities rather than a duplicate of either island's own list.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: Brick Landing Plantation/POA's own site and regional golf coverage (playgolfmyrtlebeach.com, northmyrtlebeachgolf.com) for its 1987 golf course and current course condition detail; Lockwood Folly community materials for its golf and clubhouse amenities; Seascape at Holden Plantation's and Ocean Isle Marina & Yacht Club's own websites for community amenities; the Town of Varnamtown's own site and Wikipedia for its working-fishing-village identity and settlement history; and Waterway Guide's bridge-listing data for this corridor's own mile-marker boundaries. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current golf-course green fees or tee-time policy for public (non-resident) play at either course; and current public-access policy for any of the three named marina communities. Confirm current access, fees, and hours directly with each community or facility before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is a paid endorsement.