It is accessible by ferry from the nearby town of Southport and by four-wheel drive vehicle along the beach strand from Fort Fisher to the north.

The consensus view is that Bald Head Island emerged from one such sandbar, stabilized by a succession of plant life, leading to a permanent land mass.

[8] Throughout the early European history of the Cape Fear region, Bald Head Island underwent several settlement attempts and went by many names.

[8] Over one hundred years after Quexos, William Hilton initiated an expedition called the "Adventures about Cape Fayre" by English Puritan dissidents in the 1660s.

Charleston businessmen often engaged in trade with Native Americans in the vicinity of Cape Fear, reaping such prosperity that they had to pay special duties.

Boyd subsequently built a beach boardwalk, pavilion and an eight-room hotel, before he lost the island in foreclosure due to failure to pay back taxes during the Great Depression.

The commission specified that the light be built "at the extreme point on Bald-head or some other convenient place near the bar of said river, in order that vessels may be enabled thereby to avoid the great shoal called Frying-Pan."

Additional funds were provided by the newly formed US Congress, who in August 1789 assumed responsibility for construction, maintenance and operation of all "lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers" in the United States.

[8] After Long's death Sedgewick Springs was appointed as keeper of the light at Bald Head after twelve local residents signed the following petition to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson recommending him for the position.

We the subscribers resident citizens in the District and town of Wilmington being informed that Sedgwick Springs wishes to become a keeper of the light house on Bald Head (provided it should be thought the widow of the late Henry Long, inadequate to the safe keeping thereof) beg leave hereby to recommend the said Sedgwick Springs as a fit and proper person to take charge and keep up the said light—he being an old inhabitant of the town of Wilmington a sober industrious citizen having been employed for these eight years last past and now is an Inspector of the Revenue in which office he has ever behaved himself as a diligent and Careful Officer and to our knowledge conducted himself as a truly honest man in all his dealings.Less than twenty years after it was built, the original light succumbed to erosion as it had been built too close to the water.

To avoid Frying Pan Shoals, many vessels decided to enter the Cape Fear through New Inlet at Fort Fisher, about 7 miles (11 km) north of Bald Head Island.

As a result, little emphasis was placed on maintaining Old Baldy, and by the mid-1830s the lighthouse began to fall into disrepair as its longtime keeper, Sedgewick Springs, an elderly veteran of the Revolutionary War became increasingly infirm.

[8] Old Baldy was effectively decommissioned for the first time at the outset of the Civil War when the Confederate States turned off all their lighthouses in order to hinder navigation of Union vessels.

Improvements were made to Old Baldy including a new light, keepers quarters, and a stone jetty to stabilize the shoreline which had begun eroding quickly due to the closure of New Inlet.

[8] Requests to increase the height of Old Baldy and install a more powerful first order Fresnel lens to make it bright enough to safely guide ships around Frying Pan Shoals were never approved.

Instead proposals for construction of a second lighthouse on Bald Head Island started in 1889 with the suggestion that a new 150-foot-tall (46 m), 18.5-mile-visibility (29.8 km), masonry tower be built at a cost of $150,000.

The Bald Head Island Conservancy actively monitors water quality, the dunes, maritime forest and salt marsh.

The BHI Conservancy in partnership with the USGS installed a real-time water quality monitor on one of the wells on the west side of the island.

Live oak, cabbage palmetto, and longleaf pine are the most common trees found in the maritime forests and marsh hammocks.

10,000 of the total 12,400 acres that make up Bald Head Island are protected due to their use as nesting, wading, and migrating grounds for birds and other species.

Researchers from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences visit Bald Head every summer to observe and tag painted buntings.

Each summer, the Conservancy funds and houses multiple interns to conduct field work for this program, under the direction of a sea turtle biologist.

[13] The Bald Head Association recently renovated the Wildlife Overlook - a lagoon where alligators are commonly seen - in September 2021 and added new improvements in November 2023.

He was captured in 2019 and 2022 for a North Carolina State University research project, which focused on assessing the health of alligators in response to PFAS and other contaminants.

PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, have been found in the blood of Cape Fear alligators, which were captured on Bald Head Island in 2019.

[16] PFAS are also found in water, air, fish, and soil and exposure to these chemicals has been linked to harmful health effects for both humans and wildlife.

From May 1 to October 31, Bald Head Island enforces ordinance against artificial lighting near and on beaches to protect sea turtles during nesting season.

[14] Lights that shine on nesting ground can draw turtle hatchlings away from the direction of the ocean, moon, and beach towards land, where they have a low chance of survival.

These microplastics "have the potential to impact our endangered sea turtles" [17] because the plastics can trap heat, making the sand too hot during incubation.

[18] These plans could lead to a continued cycle of urbanization patterns and increase in impervious surfaces - both of which are major contributors to environmental change due to their effects on climate, water, and biodiversity.