History with ‘Hud’: How a few primates gave a New Hanover County region its nickname
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — There are several uniquely-named regions around the Cape Fear. But one area surrounding a busy intersection in New Hanover County possesses one of the most widely known.
‘Monkey Junction’ is an unincorporated area located at the intersection of Carolina Beach Road and College Road. It received its name more than eight decades ago, due to a popular gas station attraction.
From the late 1930s through the mid 1970s, Dina and Jack Spindle housed live monkeys outside their business in a cage to attract customers heading to Carolina Beach. The Spindle’s say in addition to more customers, their sale of peanuts also increased. Bus drivers along the route to and from Carolina Beach would announce they were nearing ‘Monkey Junction’ as they drove towards the then-remote area.
The name stuck.
Decades later, the region is far from the sparsely-populated spot it used to be. The number of houses and businesses in the area continues to rise each year as the population soars. But despite the number of residents going up, the number of people who refer to the area as ‘Monkey Junction’ is going down.
Residents have recently been leading an effort to go back to calling the region by its original name of Myrtle Grove. Some people say their reasoning is because the name ‘Monkey Junction’ came long after the spot received the name Myrtle Grove during the Civil War era.
No matter what it’s called, the local history remains the same. Thousands of people remember a time when a trip to the beach could take you by a very unique attraction still being referenced today.
Meteorologist Matthew Huddleston (‘Hud’) has always had two major loves – weather and history. While you can watch him talk about weather each morning on WWAY, he looks forward to bringing you a little piece of history each Thursday on WWAY’s website.
To read other History with ‘Hud’ segments, click HERE.
