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Explore NC Lighthouses

Romance and danger surround the famed lighthouses of the North Carolina coast. From the Roanoke River to Bald Head Island, and along the Outer Banks, they continue to guide passing ships from disaster and wearied travelers home.

For centuries the waters along North Carolina's coastline proved treacherous to sailors and pirates alike. Lighthouses provided beacons of illumination. Among the most famous are the six along the Outer Banks.

Driving north past Duck and into Corolla you arrive at the Currituck Beach Light Station. Opened in 1875 its red brick exterior differs from the black and white patterned and whitewashed facilities to the south. Approximately one million bricks were used in building the still active lighthouse. From Easter to Thanksgiving weekend you can climb its 214 steps, walk around its grounds and peer in the Keeper's home. Maintained by the Outer Banks Conservationists a fee of $7.00 per person is required.

Heading south on Highway 12 through Kitty Hawk and Nags Head, and almost immediately at the entrance of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore – comes the Bodie Island Light. Pronounced "body," the name, according to long held rumors, came from either the large number of unfortunate drowning victims washed up on shore or the supposed original owners of the land – you decide.

The structure you now see is the classic case of "third time a charm". The first, built on a shaky unsupported brick foundation in 1847, once competed with the leaning tower of Pisa for most vertically challenged building. Abandoned within less than 15 years of its completion, the second lighthouse’s upright time was even less. Two years to be exact. During the Civil War Confederate troops, fearful of its potential usefulness to oncoming Union naval ships, blew it up in 1861.

The shoreline remained dark, until the present lighthouse was completed in 1872.  Now at 156’ high, the light from its black and white horizontal striped structure can be seen for 19 miles. Climbing the stairs is not permitted, but the former lighthouse keeper's house has been converted into a visitor's center and ranger’s station run by the National Park Service. Several adjacent nature trails provide excellent viewing of coastal marshland birds - like herons and Glossy ibis. Take a stroll.

The National Seashore protects the environment and its multiple creatures, for 70 miles, until the village of Ocracoke. Take time to explore quiet inlets, constantly changing sand dunes and perhaps spy the wild horses still roaming the islands.

The Diamond Shoals are anything but precious. The shallow and underwater sandbars, between Hatteras and Ocracoke, are ever moving. Combined with the convergence of the warm Gulf Stream and the Artic cold Labrador Current the region has a foreboding nickname – “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

Since the 16th century, over 1000 ships and their crews have been lost to her waters.  Several of the wrecks are still visible including the boiler and smokestack of the mid 19th century steamship the Oriental. Others provide scuba diving enthusiasts with some of the best wreck diving in the world.

Due to the area’s killer reputation the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, was first given a green light by Congress in 1797. The present standing brick structure, now called “America’s Lighthouse” was completed in 1870 and is the nation’s tallest and most recognizable with tourists for its spiral black and white exterior. Many lighthouse enthusiasts recall her arduous 2900’ trek, in 1999, from the erosion of the sand dunes to the safer higher ground inland.

Starting on Good Friday through Columbus Day you can climb her 257 stairs, for a small fee, and marvel at the light, which can be seen for 20 miles. Other activities include surf fishing, sailing or beachcombing for relics from the sea.

To reach the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina, a 40-minute ocean voyage is required on the free ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. Once home and a safe haven for the pirate Blackbeard, and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound, the village of Ocracoke is accessible only by water or air. Until recently, its residents spoke their own unique English dialect.

For 184 years, the whitewashed lighthouse has sent out her 14-mile beacon towards the sea. The Ocracoke Lighthouse is additionally one the US’s five oldest facilities in active service. Here an easy walk from the town’s shopping area will bring you to the complex. Stair climbing is not allowed but the view from the base is still inspiring.  Bring your camera or sketchpad.

Large black and white diamonds distinguish the southernmost lighthouse on the Outer Banks, Cape Lookout. First reviled by early 19th century mariners for providing insufficient light, by the mid 1850s she was a model for future Outer Banks lighthouses. Through history her beacon has proved a boon or handicap for both sides of the Civil War, German U boats and Allied ships. Today she is accessible only by private ferry.

2004 witnessed the dedication of North Carolina’s newest lighthouse. The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse was built as a replica of one of the 12 screw-pile lighthouses which once lit the way from the Outer Banks to the mainland. Now a showpiece for the North Carolina Maritime Museum of Roanoke Island in Manteo, you can appreciate the region’s coastal legacy during an Outer Banks vacation.

Away from the barrier islands, more North Carolina lighthouses exist in full service, waiting for restoration or ghostly reminders of their powerful past. The Roanoke River flows into the Albemarle Sound in northeastern North Carolina, and the town of Plymouth is home to a replica screw-pile light. Unlike their Outer Banks’ counterparts, screw-piles were typically hexagonal shaped wooden buildings one and a half stories high and complete with multiple dormers and a cupola light room.

When an ice storm rendered the keeper’s quarters of a dilapidated original river lighthouse beyond the reconstruction budget of the Port O’Plymouth Museum, conservationists made plans to contruct a replica of a Roanoke River Lighthouse. Currently you can appreciate the beacon’s colorful history by touring an authentic replica of a 1885 screwpile lighthouse.

Across the Sound, the original Plymouth Lighthouse was recently purchased by the Edenton Historical Society and will hopefully regain her former prominence soon.

Down along the southeastern coastline, the aptly named Cape Fear River had a series of lighthouses illuminating 25 miles of the central waterway from the port city of Wilmington to the estuary near the Atlantic Ocean. In the years following the Civil War, the eight lights slowly vanished. Now only one battered remmnant of a shell remains at Prices Creek.  Resting on private land it is partially visible from the Fort Fisher and Southport ferry as it approaches the Southport dock.

Nearby on Oak Island, a monolithic trio of colors decorates the last working lighthouse built in North Carolina. With a beacon of 24 miles, the Oak Island Lighthouse remains one of the world’s most powerful. A journey here requires some planning as tours are seasonal or require advance reservations.

The Frying Pan Shoals are considered nearly as hazardous as those at Hatteras. The Cape Fear Lighthouse, in red and white steel, on Bald Head Island was an important navigational aid before its demolition in 1958. Now its generator room serves as a local information office while the three keeper’s cottages are close by.

“Old Baldy” has a distinquished career during her 141 years of service on Bald Head Island. Her mottled look comes from decades of patchwork repairs. Partake of 400 years of local history at a small museum located in the restored keeper’s cottage or climb her 112 steps to the top of the tower.

Surviving sea, wind, shifting sand and storms and centuries of protecting the public – the lighthouses of the North Carolina stand ready to welcome you.

Lighthouse accessibilty and contact information:
http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/midatlt.html#north carolina

By Linda Bottjer

added: December 5, 2008

updated: April 28, 2010