Salt, sand and ice cream can be essential ingredients for the perfect beach vacation, and local ice cream shops have been supplying that experience for decades. 

Squigley’s Ice Cream & Treats, opened by Ann and Joe Coen in 1995 in Carolina Beach, offers 24 flavors of ice cream and thousands of flavor possibilities with its Squigley ice cream machine. 

The trademarked Squigley starts with a base of vanilla ice cream. Customers can add two to three items from a long list of fruits, candies and baked goods to be “Squiggled” for a custom flavor of ice cream using the Coens’ patented Squigley machines. Squigleys are served in either a homemade waffle cone or a cup and followed by a “you’ve been Squiggled” sticker.

“We were told that ‘Only happy people come to ice cream parlors,’ and that was enough for us to start an ice cream parlor ourselves,” Joe Coen said. 

Opening each Easter weekend and staying open through Labor Day, customers line up for a taste of the shop’s custom-made ice cream flavors. The Today show celebrated Squigley’s Ice Cream & Treats in 2019, naming it one of the top 17 ice cream parlors in the U.S. 

Each year, the shop features a new sundae, and this season it is the Good Dubai, featuring a decadent combination of vanilla ice cream drenched in hot chocolate fudge, then drizzled with pistachio cream sprinkled with crushed peanuts and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. 

In honor of Coens’ dog, a German Shepherd named King, all doggies who visit get a free pup cup. 

Upstairs above the ice cream shop is their gift shop, The Gift Gallery, which offers one-of-a-kind products from around the world, selling unique goods from wherever the Coens travel in the off-season. 

Squigley’s Ice Cream & Treats is at 208 S. Lake Park Blvd. in Carolina Beach. 

Up the road, along the Carolina Beach Boardwalk, The Fudgeboat and Krazy Kones are part of another family-owned business. Owners Duke and Tracee Hagestrom, along with Lou, who is Tracee’s mother and the “Fudge Lady” herself, welcome customers aboard with their signature ice cream flavors, house-made specialty chocolates and of course, the Lou-made fudge displayed on a 38-foot wooden boat hull. 

“We want people to get a really good product, and we are all about really good ingredients,” Duke Hagestrom said. 

Those ingredients come from Jackson Dairy in nearby Dunn, a family-owned dairy whose farmer personally delivers to the shop each week.  

Special homemade ice cream flavors include Key Lime Pie, Espresso Chip, Frankenstein’s Bride, Hana Banana and salted caramel. Soft serve is available with a “flavor burst” or a Hurricane, their version of a Blizzard, as well as fudge shakes, hot fudge sundaes or old-fashioned banana splits. 

Homemade waffle cones and nearly 50 flavors of fudge are made in-house daily, with more than 75 tons of fudge produced since The Fudgeboat first opened in 2004. 

“We may be underestimating, but we have made more than 150,000 pounds of fudge since we got started,” Duke Hagestrom said. 

The Fudgeboat and Krazy Kones are located at 107 Carolina Beach Ave. N. in Carolina Beach. 

Jeff and Leigh Whitfield opened the Saltwater Shanty ice cream shop near Holden Beach in 2018, following a shared vision for an ice cream and garden shop. 

“I said, ‘I will take the front, and you take the back,’” Leigh Whitfield said.  

So now Leigh Whitfield has her gift and garden shop in the front, and the ice cream shop operates out of the back of the building. 

Jeff Whitfield makes the all-natural ice cream, offering more than 20 homemade flavors, including peach, key lime, sea salt caramel and English toffee. 

“We have a key set of flavors that we got to have, or customers will cry if we don’t have them,” Leigh Whitfield said. 

Unique, one-of-a-kind flavors include their famous Winter Bourbon, with a hint of Knob Creek bourbon, and their Sea Turtle, with caramel, chocolate fudge swirls and home-roasted pecans. House-made toppings include the Varnamtown Vittles, handcrafted daily with marshmallow minis, whipped cream swirl, walnuts and roasted pecans and caramel drizzle. 

The Peachy Peach sundae is a customer favorite, with the shop selling 30 to 50 a night, the Whitfields said. 

“Every year there is a new project, and we do something exciting,” Leigh Whitfield said. “Our outdoor area is magical with pavers and plants.” 

Customers gather under the live oak trees in their inspiration garden with bluegrass playing from the speakers while generations of families relax and enjoy their ice cream. 

The Saltwater Shanty ice cream shop is located at 1027 Sabbath Home Road SW in Supply.