Your Community Guide · Calabash, Brunswick County, North Carolina
Allston Park
A Mungo Homes neighborhood of 132 single-family homesites, a mile in from US 17 on
Shingletree Road and right behind Meadowlands. Bigger lots than most new construction around
Calabash, one- and two-story plans with three-car garage options, a pool and cabana, and some of
the lowest HOA dues in the area. Here is how it came together, what's being built now, and what
the listing sites get wrong.
Allston Park is for the buyer who wants a little room. A backyard deep enough
for a garden and a grill and still some grass, a third garage bay for the golf clubs and the
kayak, and a quiet street a few minutes from the shrimp boats on the Calabash waterfront.
132single-family homesites approved by Brunswick County
Up to ⅓ achomesites, with 7,500 sq ft the planned minimum
2021Planning Board approval, Major Subdivision SS-277
~3 mito the Calabash waterfront restaurants
3-cargarage options on several plans
Homesite count, acreage and lot minimum per the July 12, 2021 Brunswick County Planning Board minutes; lot sizes and garage options per Mungo Homes marketing. Subject to change — verify before relying on any figure.
“I wanted to create these Community Guides because every neighborhood along our
coast has its own personality, history, and little details that you simply can't see in a
listing search. Over the past 20 years, I've worked with many of the builders who helped
bring these communities to life, and I've watched them grow from the ground up. Along the
way, I've had the privilege of welcoming so many people home here. These guides are my way
of sharing what makes each community different, what makes them special, and why so many
people are proud to call them home.”
A three-car garage, a wide front lawn and a fenced backyard running back toward the pines. This is what room to breathe looks like here.
A lot of new construction along our coast is built tight — homes ten feet apart, a patio, and
a fence line where the backyard should be. Allston Park was drawn differently. The county
approved it as a conventional subdivision, not a high-density planned development, and that
decision shows up in every backyard.
Imagine the evening after closing. The movers are gone, the boxes can wait, and you're out on
the back porch watching the light go down over a yard that's actually yours to do something
with. Next spring there's planting palm trees. The year after, maybe a screened porch. The space is
already there.
And when you want to go somewhere, everything Calabash is known for — the seafood houses, the
shrimp boats, the shops along River Road, a dozen golf courses and the beaches at Sunset and
Ocean Isle — is a short drive away.
How the neighborhood got here
From three parcels on Shingletree Road to a two-phase neighborhood
Allston Park is younger than most of the neighborhoods around it, and its public record is short
and clear. Mungo Homes owned the land before it ever went to the county, and it has been the only
builder from the start.
2021
Approved by Brunswick County
On July 12, 2021, the Brunswick County Planning Board unanimously approved Allston Park
Major Subdivision (SS-277): 132 single-family homes on 63.32 acres off Shingletree Road NW,
an overall density of about 2.1 homes per acre, with lots of 7,500 square feet and up. The
owner of record was Mungo Homes Coastal Division, LLC, which had already assembled the three
parcels. Coastal Land Design engineered the plan.
2021
Stormwater shaped the plan
More than 50 neighbors came to the developer's community meeting, most of them worried
about water near the Shingletree Swamp. The answer was a stormwater design built to the
100-year storm, with a berm and ditch along the Meadowlands property line that carries
water to a pond and on to the swamp. A planned walking connection into Meadowlands was
dropped at the neighbors' request.
Phase 1
The first homes on Mayflower Drive
The early homes went up along Mayflower Drive NW. Listing records from that first phase
show one-story Durham and Gwinnett plans closing around $300,000 to $335,000 — useful
context for what the resales are built from today.
2024
A new phase opens
In December 2024, Mungo Homes opened a new phase with an updated plan lineup — eight plans
from about 1,600 to more than 3,000 square feet — and three-car garage options. The
recorded plat refers to it as Phase 2.
Today
Building out the remaining homesites
Mungo Homes is selling and building on the remaining lots along Mayflower Drive NW and the
newer Night Lotus Drive NW, with several homes under construction at any given time and a
growing number of early-phase homes coming back to market as resales.
That short history explains the neighborhood you'll see. One builder, one set of
plans, homesites sized by a 2021 subdivision rule instead of squeezed by a planned-development
density bonus, and a stormwater system that was designed with the neighbors watching.
The stand of tall pines left behind the pool. Trees like these line the back edges of the neighborhood, so many backyards look into woods instead of another house.
Quiet streets, real yards & the neighbors next door
Allston Park isn't trying to be a resort. There's no gatehouse, no golf membership and no
activities calendar. What it offers instead is the simpler thing a lot of buyers are actually
looking for — a solid new house on a good-sized lot, on a street that only the people who live
there drive down.
It sits on the edge of a settled part of Calabash, with Meadowlands' fairways just beyond the
tree line and Shingletree Road leading out to 17. You get the feel of an established
neighborhood without buying an older house.
Some people want the clubhouse and the pickleball league. Others want the yard, the garage and
the quiet, and would rather spend their weekends on the water than at the amenity center. Allston
Park is built for the second group.
Allston Park is in the middle of its build-out, which gives you more choices than a finished
neighborhood. You can pick a homesite and plan and build, buy one of the homes Mungo Homes
already has underway, or buy a resale from the first phase. Pick the one that fits and I'll send
you live listings.
The entrance sign — gray piers, lanterns and crape myrtles, about a mile in from US 17. If a portal lists the address as Carolina Shores, it's the same neighborhood; the mailing address is Calabash.
Let me clear up the misconception that costs buyers the most time. National portals pull the
builder's listing copy and then add their own labels — the wrong town, an active-adult badge,
a starting price from years ago. Allston Park is an all-ages Mungo Homes neighborhood in the
Calabash area, and current new-home pricing starts in the low $300s.
What you will find is one builder, a defined set of plans, a mix of finished, underway and
not-yet-started homes, and an early phase whose owners are starting to sell. What follows is how
I'd sort it if you were sitting across from me at my Calabash office. Each path has its own live
search attached.
The right choice here is usually about the homesite before it's about the house.
Mungo Homes builds the same plans across many lots. What changes from one address to the next is
the depth of the backyard, what's behind it — the pond, the tree line toward Meadowlands, or
another house — and how the lot sits for drainage.
Pick a homesite and build
To be built
Mungo Homes lets you choose the homesite, the plan and your finishes. The plans offered here
run from about 1,500 to just over 3,000 heated square feet, one- and two-story, up to six
bedrooms, with dual primary suites, bonus rooms and three-car garages available on several
designs.
This is where my years on the builder side of the table matter most. Homesite premiums, which
options have to be locked in before the slab is poured, which upgrades come back at resale and
which never do — those decisions are made in the first two meetings, and most of them can't be
changed later.
An open homesite on the curve, with finished homes across the street and the pines behind them. Walk the lot before you pick the plan — the backyard comes first.
Plans offered
~1,500 – 3,049+ sq ft
Stories
1 and 2
Bedrooms
2 – 6
Garages
2-car, 3-car on select plans
Homesites
7,500 sq ft to ~⅓ acre
Builder
Mungo Homes
Quick move-in homes
Already underway
Homes Mungo Homes started before a buyer was attached — some at framing, some weeks from
finished. The builder typically has several underway at Allston Park, across most of its plans,
with move-in dates published on its listings.
For relocation buyers this is often the practical answer. You can walk the actual house, see
the actual backyard, and know roughly when you'll sleep there. When you're already juggling a
house to sell somewhere else, that certainty is worth more than picking your own cabinet
color.
Quick move-in homes are also where builder incentives tend to show up — closing-cost help or
a reduced rate through the builder's lender. I'll tell you what's on the table and whether it
beats a straight price reduction.
The first phase on Mayflower Drive has been lived in long enough that homes are starting to
come back to market. They're the same Mungo Homes plans, often with the extras owners add in
the first couple of years — a fence, blinds, a screened porch, irrigation, upgraded
landscaping.
A resale can also carry an older price. First-phase homes were sold at lower base prices than
today's, so a well-kept resale can come in under a comparable new home while including things
the builder charges extra for. The trade-off is less choices you didn't make.
The Mungo Homes plans, and what they actually give you
Mungo Homes markets nine plans at Allston Park. These are the ones that show up in current and
recent listings, with the ranges the builder publishes. The same plan name can cover several
versions — a bonus room, a third garage bay, an extra bedroom — so the range matters more than
the name.
The better question is how you expect to live in it. A one-story Gwinnett II with the upstairs
bonus suite handles visiting grandchildren better than a bigger two-story with every bedroom
upstairs. A Bleckley with a three-car garage may serve a retiree with a golf cart, a motorcycle and a workbench better than a larger plan with two bays.
Bedroom counts and heated square footage as published by Mungo Homes and shown in listing records. Ranges reflect plan variations and options. Pricing changes often enough that I don't publish it here — ask me for today's numbers on a specific home or homesite.
Plan
Beds
Baths
Heated sq ft
Notes
Bleckley
3
2 – 3
1,518 – 1,531
One-story; the smallest plan, with a three-car garage version
Decatur
3
2
~1,643
Seen with a three-car garage
Durham II
3 – 5
2 – 3
1,761 – 2,380
One-story base; larger version adds an upstairs bonus room and guest suite
Gwinnett II
3 – 6
2 – 3
1,889 – 2,515
One-story base with split bedrooms; bonus-room version adds an upstairs bedroom and bath
Lanier
3 – 4
2 – 3.5
1,989 – 2,595
One-story base; offered with a three-car garage
Lancaster
4
2.5
~2,152
Two-story
Turner
5
3.5
~3,049
The largest plan; three-car garage
Not a complete list. Earlier-phase
homes were built from the original Durham and Gwinnett plans. Ask me which plan a specific address
was built from and what came standard.
A pool and cabana, a pond, and the lowest dues around
The amenity package here is deliberately small: a community pool with a cabana, restrooms, the
mail kiosk and parking. That is the main reason the HOA dues are so low, and it's a trade a lot of
buyers are glad to make.
The pool and cabana — teal loungers around the deck and shade under the cabana roof.
On a July afternoon the pool is where the neighborhood shows up — kids home from camp,
retirees between tee times, new neighbors meeting for the first time. It's close enough to
walk to from every street.
Under the cabana: ceiling fans, picnic tables, a water fountain and restroom doors, so a swim doesn't mean a trip home.
What you won't find is a clubhouse, fitness center or golf membership. If those matter to you,
I'll show you communities that have them and what they cost in dues. If they don't, you're not
paying for them here.
The mailboxes sit right beside the pool fence, so the daily mail run and the pool share a stop.
The real amenity at Allston Park is the location. Meadowlands Golf Club is right behind the
neighborhood, and dozens of other courses are within a short drive. The Calabash waterfront is
about three miles away, and Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle Beach are an easy afternoon trip.
For buyers coming from the Northeast or Midwest, that's the detail to notice. Your amenity
center is the whole coast — and you're not paying an HOA to maintain it.
A cart path curving along the pond under the pines. Golf this close turns a round into an ordinary weekday plan.Someone getting in a few putts on the practice green before the tee time, with the fairways opening up beyond the pines.
Picture an ordinary weekday here: coffee on the back porch, nine holes in the
morning, an hour at the pool after lunch, and a plate of Calabash-style shrimp on the waterfront
for dinner — back home before dark, with nothing on the calendar you didn't put there.
Community pool
Outdoor pool for residents, the hub of the neighborhood in summer.
Cabana & restrooms
Shade and restrooms at the pool, so a swim doesn't mean a trip home.
Mail kiosk & parking
Off-street mail kiosk in the amenity parking lot, as shown in the county-approved plan.
Community pond
The stormwater pond doubles as open water for the homes around it.
Larger homesites
Lots from 7,500 square feet up to about a third of an acre.
Low HOA dues
Recent listings show dues of roughly $560 to $700 a year.
The question everyone asks second
What the dues cover — and what to ask before you sign
Recent Allston Park listings show HOA dues of roughly $560 to $700 a year, which is low for new
construction anywhere near the beach. A couple of early listings showed a higher figure, which
may reflect an earlier budget or a one-time fee at closing. I pull the current budget and
governing documents rather than quoting a number that will change.
Low dues usually mean a short list of what's covered. That's a good thing if you want to handle
your own yard — just go in knowing it.
What the dues fund
Community pool and cabana
Amenity restrooms, parking and mail kiosk area
Entrance and common-area landscaping
Stormwater ponds and common areas
Association management and insurance
What owners handle
Lawn care and landscaping on the lot — don't assume it's included
Home exterior, roof, windows and doors
Fencing and irrigation you add
Homeowners and flood insurance on the dwelling
Pest and termite contracts
Ask for before you sign
The recorded covenants and current HOA budget
Any capital contribution or transfer fee at closing
Fence, outbuilding and pool rules for your lot
Boat, RV and trailer parking rules
Leasing and short-term rental restrictions
Who maintains the drainage swale behind your lot
The stormwater berm and ditch along the Meadowlands line are part of what the county
approved for this neighborhood. If you're looking at a homesite on that side, ask how drainage
easements cross the back of the lot before you plan a fence, shed or pool.
Getting around
A mile off 17, three miles from the Calabash waterfront
Allston Park sits on Shingletree Road NW in the Calabash area, about a mile west of US 17 and
directly behind Meadowlands. Turn off 17 onto Shingletree and the neighborhood is on the left.
From NC 57, continue onto Hickman Road NW and turn right onto Shingletree.
That puts you a few minutes from the shopping and dining along 17 and close enough to the
Calabash waterfront and the beaches that they become part of the week instead of a trip you
plan.
Calabash, Sunset Beach and the whole coast — close enough for a Tuesday
For many people, moving to the Brunswick County coast begins with a dream of spending more time
near the water. From Allston Park, that dream can be part of an ordinary Tuesday instead of
something saved for vacation.
There might be evenings when you drive down to the Calabash waterfront for fried shrimp and
watch the boats come in, mornings when you're on the first tee at one of the courses down the
road, or afternoons when you head to Sunset Beach just to walk the sand.
And on the days when you'd rather stay home, there's the pool, a walk around the neighborhood,
or your own back porch.
That's what I appreciate most about neighborhoods like this one. You get a newer home and a real
yard at a price the island can't match, and the coast is still right there whenever you want
it.
US 17 shopping and dining, Carolina Shores
~5 min
Calabash waterfront restaurants
~3 mi · ~8 min
Meadowlands Golf Club
Next door
Sunset Beach
~15 min
North Myrtle Beach
~20 min
Ocean Isle Beach
~20 min
Shallotte
~20 min
Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center
~30 min
Myrtle Beach International Airport
~45 min
Wilmington
~1 hr
Drive times are approximate and vary with season and traffic. Neighbors raised the sight line at the Shingletree Road and Hickman Road intersection at the 2021 hearing — take that turn slowly.
A good Saturday here doesn't take much planning: an early tee time, the pool in
the afternoon, and dinner on the Calabash waterfront without spending the day in the car.
Three miles down the road: Calabash
The town Allston Park takes its mailing address
from is a working fishing village. Shrimp boats still tie up along the Calabash River, the marsh comes
right up to the docks, and the seafood that made "Calabash-style" famous is cooked a few hundred feet
from where it's unloaded.
Shrimp boats along the dock, the marsh grass at high tide and an egret working the shallows.
A trawler at the dock with its nets hung up to dry — the reason the restaurants are here.The river at the end of the day, glassy enough to double the boats on the water.
Waterfront dining
Dinner on the water is a short drive, not a trip.
The restaurants along the Calabash waterfront range from old-school seafood houses to open-air decks
over the marsh, and on a fall evening most of the tables are outside.
A crowded deck over the marsh grass, and next door a little market selling fresh shrimp and fish off the boats.
The Oyster Rock Waterfront Seafood, with the gooseneck lamps coming on at dusk.Palms, navy umbrellas and a full patio at the water's edge as the sun gets low.
The shops
Between dinner and the drive home there's an
evening's worth of browsing — nautical gifts, a year-round Christmas store and small boutiques along
the roads into the waterfront.
Callahan's Nautical Gifts of Calabash under the live oak — apparel, jewelry, candy, home decor and the St. Nick Nacks Christmas store.A Calabash boutique with a pink door and rocking chairs on the porch, the windows lit for the evening.
What that radius actually looks like
Sunset Beach, about fifteen minutes from the entrance.The sand at Sunset Beach, about fifteen minutes away.
Streets you'll see in the listings
If you're cross-referencing addresses
from a portal, these are inside Allston Park:
Mayflower Drive NW
Night Lotus Drive NW
Not necessarily a complete list as new
sections open. Ask me if you're unsure whether an address falls inside the association.
Schools
Listing records place Allston
Park in the Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary, Shallotte Middle and West Brunswick High attendance zones.
Assignments are set by Brunswick County Schools and change — confirm for a specific address.
Want to know which homes and homesites I'd actually shortlist today?
Not the full inventory list — the three or four I'd put in front of you if you were my
buyer, and the reasons the rest didn't make it.
What the national sites get wrong about Allston Park
I check these portals because my buyers read them first. Here is where the record needs
correcting.
"It's in Carolina Shores."
No. Some portals label Allston Park homes as Carolina Shores. The
neighborhood was approved by Brunswick County, not by a town, and its mailing address is Calabash,
NC 28467. If town limits matter to you for taxes or services, I'll pull the tax record for the
specific address.
"It's an active-adult community."
No. One retirement portal puts its own active-adult badge on these listings,
and its fine print says the badge is based on the home and location only. Allston Park is an
all-ages neighborhood with plans up to six bedrooms. Plenty of buyers are retired, but there is no
age restriction that I've seen in any public record.
"Located behind Meadowlands Golf Resort" — so golf comes with it.
Don't assume. The builder's copy is accurate about the location — the
neighborhoods share a property line. But Allston Park is a separate HOA with no golf membership,
and the walking connection into Meadowlands was removed from the plan in 2021. Any golf at
Meadowlands is arranged directly with the club.
"Homes from $289,900."
Outdated. That figure still appears on at least one new-home site. Base
pricing today starts in the low $300s, and finished homes run into the low $400s. Ask me for
current numbers.
"Just off Highway 17."
About a mile off. The entrance is roughly a mile west of US 17 on
Shingletree Road NW. That's part of the appeal — close enough for errands, far enough that you
don't hear the highway.
The plan specs on new-home listing sites.
Check them against the builder. One major new-home site lists a five-bedroom
Durham II with an upstairs bonus room as one story, and shows the three-bedroom Lanier plan as two
bedrooms in its header. I'll pull the builder's plan sheet for any home you're serious about.
Questions I get about Allston Park
Who tends to like Allston Park most?
Buyers who want a newer home on a bigger lot without paying for amenities they won't use. It
lands well with retirees who golf, families who want a real backyard, and relocators who want a
three-car garage near Calabash. If you want a clubhouse, a fitness center or lawn care in your
dues, I'll tell you that plainly and point you somewhere else in the county.
Who builds in Allston Park?
Mungo Homes is the only builder. The company was founded in Columbia, South Carolina in 1954
and has been part of Clayton Properties Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company, since 2018. Mungo
Homes also builds Rich Square at Brunswick Plantation.
Is Allston Park a 55+ community?
No. It is an all-ages neighborhood. Some retirement websites label the listings in ways that
suggest otherwise, but the plans go up to six bedrooms and I haven't seen an age restriction in
any public record.
Is Allston Park in Calabash or Carolina Shores?
The mailing address is Calabash, NC 28467, and Brunswick County — not a town — approved the
subdivision in 2021. Some portals mislabel it as Carolina Shores. I can confirm town limits and
tax jurisdiction for any specific address.
What are the HOA dues, and do they include lawn care?
Recent listings show roughly $560 to $700 a year, which covers the pool, cabana and common areas.
I haven't seen lawn care listed as included, so plan on handling your own yard. Dues change with
the budget, so I pull the current documents before you go under contract.
What about flooding and drainage?
Drainage was the main topic when the county approved the neighborhood in 2021. The stormwater
system was designed for the 100-year storm, with a berm and ditch along the Meadowlands line
feeding a pond that drains to the Shingletree Swamp. Every lot is different, so I look at the
flood zone, the grade and the drainage easements for a specific homesite before you commit.
Do Allston Park residents get access to Meadowlands Golf Club?
No. The two neighborhoods share a property line but are separate communities with separate
associations, and the planned walking connection between them was removed in 2021. Golf there is
arranged directly with the club, the same as for any other golfer.
Should I use my own agent if I'm buying new construction here?
Yes — and register me with the builder on your very first visit, before you tour. The builder's
salesperson works for the builder. I spent a long stretch of my career on that side of the table,
so I know how homesite premiums are set, which options have to be decided before the foundation
goes in, and which upgrades come back at resale. It costs you nothing to have me there, but the
timing of the registration isn't flexible.
How's the resale market here?
I publish a branded market snapshot covering absorption rate, days on market and closed price
trends. Ask me for the current edition for Allston Park — it's free and there's no obligation
attached.
Two chairs on the porch and the flag out front. The next chapter usually starts on a porch like this one.
Finding your place at Allston Park
Every buyer arrives at the coast with a different idea of what home should feel like.
For some, it's a brand-new house where every finish is their own choice. For others, it's room
— a garage for the projects, a yard for the dog, a guest suite so the family can stay a week —
with the beaches and the Calabash waterfront close enough to enjoy whenever the mood strikes.
What I appreciate about communities like Allston Park is that they remind us a home is more than
a plan name and a square-footage number. It's where ordinary days become the good ones, where new
traditions start, and where the next chapter of life takes shape.
After more than 20 years working in the Brunswick County housing market, I've learned that
helping someone find the right community is just as important as finding the right house. My
goal is to help you understand both — so when you finally turn the key, you feel confident you've
found a place that truly fits the life you came here to enjoy.
I sold new construction for the builders. Now I work for you.
With almost 30 years in the real estate industry — and a long stretch of it working on
the sales teams for home builders such as Bill Clark Homes, Stevens Fine Homes,
D.R. Horton, Wade Jurney Homes, Centex Homes, Beazer Homes and Portrait Homes — I know how
homesite premiums get priced, where the good lots in a phase are, and which upgrades hold
their value at resale and which never come back.
I moved to the Brunswick County coast 20 years ago to help build these communities because
I wanted the same life many of my clients want now — a chance to buy my dream home just
minutes from the beach. After years on the builder side of the business, I've learned that
the best home isn't always the newest home, the biggest home or even the house with the
longest upgrade list. It's the one that fits the life you're actually moving here to
have.
In an active builder community like Allston Park, that experience matters on both sides of the
contract. On a new build, it's knowing which homesite is worth its premium, which options to
lock in early and which incentive is really the best deal. On a resale, it's knowing what came
standard on that plan and what the owner added — because that's what the price should be based
on.
Buying here isn't only about choosing a plan. It's deciding which lot, which backyard and which
version of coastal life fits the next chapter. My job is to help you slow those decisions down
and make sure the home still feels like the right call long after move-in day.
If you've found an address you're considering — even one on Zillow, Realtor.com or another
agent's site — send it to me before you make an offer or register with the builder. I'll tell you
which plan it is, what's behind the lot and how it drains, and what the recent sales say it's
worth. No obligation.
