If you're the kind of person who'd rather paddle a canoe than careen about on a jet ski, there's a vacation destination designed with you in mind. And even though you don't have to travel halfway around the world to get there, it is an extraordinary departure. Barely two nautical miles off the southeastern tip of North Carolina is a semitropical island with a lifestyle as refreshingly novel as its name, Bald Head Island. But the distance is measured in more than miles. Steeped in history,...