Point of Interest
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
800 Island Road, Harkers Island, NC 28531
With its striking black-and-white diamond pattern, Cape Lookout Lighthouse stands as one of the Outer Banks’s most iconic coastal landmarks and certainly one of its most remote. Located on the southern end of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, part of North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, this area is only accessible by boat or passenger ferry, making the journey every bit as much of an adventure as the destination.
Once on the island, visitors can enjoy pristine beaches, go shelling or explore trails with panoramic views of dunes, maritime forest and wild shoreline. The lighthouse itself, first lit in 1859, is not currently open for climbing, however nearby are range of unique experiences — from the wild horses of Shackleford Banks to visiting the historic Portsmouth Village, an abandoned 19th-century settlement.
