3540 Shell Quarry Dr

With tidy apartment buildings and spacious single-family homes lining the meandering streets of Silver Lake, this suburb four miles south of Wilmington welcomes residents with a sense of serenity and amazing access to water-based recreation. While only a handful of houses surround the lake that gives the neighborhood its name, the Cape Fear River borders the western edge of the Silver Lake neighborhood, and the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean are only two miles to the east.

Take a ferry or sail your own boat to Masonboro Island, just east of Silver Lake, to enjoy hiking, boating, fishing, and swimming, and then stop for a bite to eat with neighbors on your way home at one of the many local faves along Carolina Beach Road. The Cape Fear Seafood Company, one of the top-rated restaurants in the Wilmington area, prepares locally-caught seafood perfectly.