Holly Ridge Family Keeps Farm Small by Choice While Welcoming Topsail-Area Campers

By James Warner Smith

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When Patrick and Brittany Brown looked at the 7-acre Holly Ridge property that would become Live Oaks Farm, they could see more than open ground.

They saw room for chickens, goats and ducks. They saw space for flowers, pumpkins, Christmas trees and family projects. They saw old live oaks, a pond, a place for their children to grow up outdoors — and, eventually, a small way to welcome visitors without losing the quiet character of the land.

At one point, the Browns were told the property could probably fit 25 or 30 camper sites. They chose three.

That decision says a lot about what Live Oaks Farm is trying to be. Located near the Topsail and Surf City area, the farm is not a traditional campground and does not try to be one. Instead, it offers a handful of low-key camping spots for visitors who want to stay close to the coast while experiencing a quieter, more personal side of the area.

For the Browns, overnight stays are one piece of a larger picture. The family also keeps chickens and other animals, sells eggs, grows seasonal flowers, plans fall activities, and continues to shape the land into a working family farm. Camping is not about packing the property with as many visitors as possible. It is about creating one more thoughtful revenue stream that helps the farm remain active, cared for and productive.

That kind of balance is becoming more familiar in coastal communities, where small farms and family properties often face pressure from rising land values, development and changing visitor demand. Around Topsail, Holly Ridge, Hampstead and Sneads Ferry, tourism is a major part of local life, but not every visitor is looking for a condo, hotel room or large RV park. Some are looking for a quiet patch of land, a fire pit, a sky full of stars and a place where their children can see animals or wake up under old trees. Live Oaks Farm gives them that option.

Guests book the farm’s campsites through Hipcamp, the world’s No. 1 app for finding and booking campsites. But the experience itself is distinctly local. Campers are not just passing through a generic outdoor space. They are staying on a family farm shaped by the Browns’ own work, plans and restraint.

The setting is part of the appeal. The farm sits beneath mature live oaks and includes a pond, willow trees, azaleas, chickens, Nigerian dwarf goats and ducks. Depending on the season, visitors may see signs of the family’s pumpkin patch, Christmas trees or flower-growing plans. Patrick also has a wood workshop on the property, adding to the sense that this is a lived-in, working place rather than a purpose-built resort.

For many families visiting the Topsail area, that is exactly the point. A small farm stay can offer the best of both worlds: close enough to enjoy the beach, restaurants and coastal attractions, but far enough away to slow down at the end of the day.

The Browns’ approach also reflects a wider shift in how some landowners think about agritourism. Rather than adding large-scale attractions or converting land into dense lodging, families are finding smaller ways to invite guests in. A few campsites, a farm tour, seasonal flowers, eggs, pumpkins or animals can help make a property more financially resilient while keeping its original character intact. At Live Oaks Farm, the scale is intentional.

Three campsites mean the family can maintain privacy, protect the feel of the farm and offer guests a more relaxed experience. It also means the Browns can continue developing the property in a way that fits their family, rather than turning it into something unrecognizable.

That may be what makes the story resonate locally. The farm is not trying to become the biggest or busiest place to stay near Topsail. It is trying to remain itself.

As more visitors discover the mainland communities around Topsail Island, small places like Live Oaks Farm show another side of coastal tourism: one rooted in family land, working farms and thoughtful limits.

For Patrick and Brittany Brown, the goal is simple. Keep building the farm. Keep caring for the land. Welcome a small number of guests at a time. And let the property help support itself without losing what made it special in the first place.