One of Wrightsville Beach’s most recognizable landmarks has been looking a little different the past few weeks, but the unofficial caretakers of so-called “Palm Tree Island” said the artificial tree that gives the low-tide island its name will be back in time for the annual Memorial Day party.
While the tree’s trunk is still there, the palm fronds have been gone for several weeks. But they weren’t stolen, rather, caretakers of the island are working on getting the fronds repaired, after a long winter created some damage, leading the fronds to wain.
“We have to replace them every ten years or so, depending on the weather,” said Dorothy Crumpton, one of the unofficial caretakers of the shoal-turned-island in the Intracoastal Waterway near the mouth of Lees Cut. “We try to keep them as pristine as can be.”
Crumpton, who serves along with William David Salling and Brooke Watkins among the lead caretakers for the island, said that the fronds will be back on the island’s tree in time for the unofficial start of the summer party.
“There are a group of volunteers and people who care about it who work to preserve the island,” she said.
The group gave the island another unofficial name, The Diminishing Republic, and sell hats, t-shirts, koozies and other accessories bearing a logo featuring the tree, along with its other signature landmark, the parking meter. The tides give the island its name, as it reappears for a few hours during every low tide.
The palm tree has been on the island for about 20 years, Crumpton said, and was at first real. However, the tree couldn’t survive on the island and was eventually replaced with an artificial tree. Rope tied around the pole give the tree the appearance of bark, she said, where the palms bring them to life.
“The tree keeps changing and evolving,” she said, noting that the first fake fronds purchased for it were ordered from Nebraska, where palm trees are a rare sight.
Each year, hundreds of revelers make their way to the island on Memorial Day, where a steel drum band plays and everyone brings food, she said.
