Figure Eight Island Figure Eight Island Figure Eight Island is a North Carolina barrier island just north of Wrightsville Beach, widely known as an affluent summer colony and vacation desitination. The island is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Area, and lies between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. As a private island, Figure Eight can only be reached by boat or via a guarded causeway swing bridge — the only private bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast. The island has been a destination for celebrities and politicians, including former Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Edwards, — and a
Gorgona Agricultural Penal Colony penal colony to produce wine. Lamberto Frescobaldi, the current Marchesi de'Frescobaldi and 30th generation of the Tuscan winemaking family, saw potential in an east-facing plot of land on the island's mineral-rich vineyard soils and decided to purchase the land. The Frescobaldis' contracted with the penal colony to work the vineyard, providing training and expertize to the inmates, and paying the inmates a wage in exchange for the rights to the sell the wine produced on the island. In 2013, the penal colony released 225 cases of a white "Denominazione d’Origine Controllata" (DOC) wine labeled as "Frescobaldi per Gorgona" (or simply