The Black Head Walk was originally proposed by  William Valentine of the Carrickfergus & Larne Railway Company and later taken on by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway under the guidance of their Chief Engineer Berkeley Deane Wise. It was built to extend the promenade and provide an additional attraction to the seaside resort. The walk will take you past where old Port Davy was (now gone), it was first recorded in 1642 as a landing stage and in 1883 was still a relatively busy trading port to Scotland, the port was in use up until the breakwater was removed during repairs to the path in 1970.

A feature of the walk are two large glacial erratics (above), these large boulders were carried and deposited here during the last ice-age when it would have been possible to cross from Scotland to North Antrim on foot via an ice shelf, many believe this was the route of the first settlers. As you walk around the cliff you will come to a cave which was known as the 'Schoolmaster's Bed Chamber' named after Thomas McCartney who lived here circa 1804. He taught in what was known as a 'Hedge School' before the National School system was introduced in Ireland. The cave became a tourist attraction in later years.

Thomas had a great reputation as a teacher and also with his pupils, he spent his life teaching locally and through the actions of a generous farmer moved into a storehouse where he lived and taught, as he began to get old parents of past and present pupils built him a small cabin where he lived until his death in 1855, he is buired in an unmarked grave at Ballykeel, Islandmagee.  The path then climbs up past the octagonal Blackhead lighthouse which was designed by William Douglas and built in 1902 as you round the top there are gorgeous views across the ocean.