Digest>Archives> Mar/Apr 2014

North Carolina’s Forgotten Beacons on Legs

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Croatan Shoal Lighthouse (Lighthouse Digest ...

It’s pretty obvious why some of North Carolina’s very tall lighthouses, such as Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck, and Cape Lookout get so much attention and are popular tourist attractions. However, there are a number of the state’s screwpile lighthouses, or lighthouses on pilings, that have slipped away into the pages of time and have been long forgotten by most. In many cases, much of the history and stories of the people who lived at these lighthouses is yet to be rediscovered. Because so many of these lighthouses were nearly identical to each other, in seems that most historians have apparently overlooked much of their history. So to help keep alive the memory of these lost lighthouses we are sharing these images of some, but not all, of them, in hopes that more of their history will come to surface.

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Artist’s rendition of the first Federal Point ...

Some of the other screwpile lighthouses that stood in North Carolina that we have not shown, because in most cases, we have not been able to locate photographs of them, would be: Upper Jetty Lighthouse, Beacon Island Lighthouse, Orton’s Point Lighthouse, Harbor Island Lighthouse, Brant Shoal Lighthouse, Bogue Banks Beacon Lighthouse, and Campbell’s Island Lighthouse.

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This painting of the second Federal Point ...

Croatan Shoal Lighthouse

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The third and final Federal Point Lighthouse. ...

The Croatan Shoal Lighthouse Station was established in 1835 and the original tower was destroyed in the War Between the States. Rebuilt in 1887, the history of the lighthouse and the keepers who were stationed there has been elusive. If you look closely at this photo you will see an unidentified lighthouse keeper standing by the door as he sips a cup of coffee at this well maintained station. You might also notice that the Fresnel lens on the tower is covered to protect it from the harmful rays of the sun. Exposed to the full force of Mother Nature, this is not a lighthouse you would want to have been stationed at during one of the hurricanes that are so common in this region. Located between Mann’s Harbor and Roanoke Island the lighthouse no longer stands.

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A Lighthouse Tender approaches North Carolina’s ...

Federal Point Lighthouse

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Neuse River Lighthouse. (Lighthouse Digest ...

Over time there were three different lighthouse structures that were named the Federal Point Lighthouse. The lighthouses all stood in the general vicinity of the New Inlet of the Cape Fear River.

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Long Shoal Lighthouse (Lighthouse Digest ...

The first Federal Point Lighthouse tower, standing forty-four feet tall, was built in 1817. It was destroyed by a fire on April 13, 1836. Stories of life at the lighthouse or memories of the keepers seem to be nonexistent.

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Southwest Point Royal Shoal Lighthouse. ...

In 1837, the second Federal Point Lighthouse structure was built. However, to avoid the fire hazard, this second structure was built out of brick, but stood only 30-feet tall, which is 14-feet shorter than the first tower. During the War Between the States, the lighthouse was darkened. However, Col. William Lamb of the Confederate Army used the keeper’s house as his headquarters. He also built a platform attached to the tower to watch for ships that were able to run the Union blockade and resupply the Confederate troops at Fort Fisher. It is unclear exactly why they didn’t watch for ships from the top of the tower instead of building the platform.

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North River Lighthouse. (Lighthouse Digest ...

However, in early 1863, when the Union naval forces were closing in and began to use the tower to hone in cannon fire on the fort, Col. Lamb ordered the tower to be demolished. Demolishing the brick tower must have been an immense project, for in doing so, a Confederate soldier, Pvt. Alfred Campen was killed on January 30, 1863 when a section of the tower fell on him.

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The 1899 Wade Point Lighthouse is shown here next ...

After the conclusion of the Civil War, a third lighthouse was built at Federal Point, but at a slightly different site and was first lighted on April 30, 1866. Its only keeper was a man known only as Mr. Taylor, who continued to live in the structure even after, in 1879, it was deemed as no longer needed Taylor was a home in the lighthouse when on the afternoon of August 23, 1881 the structure caught fire and was burned to the ground.

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The close up 1918 image of the Wade Point ...

Laurel Point Lighthouse

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Bluff Shoal Lighthouse. (Lighthouse Digest ...

Built in 1880 in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina’s Laurel Point Lighthouse was lighted with a fourth order Fresnel lens that gave off a white flash every 30 seconds. Veteran lighthouse keeper Benjamin Cox was the keeper here for an amazing 26 years. Interestingly, this small station was important enough to have an assistant keeper. As well as being a lighthouse keeper, Benjamin Cox also owned a general store and a house on the mainland where he spent much of his time. However, one winter when the food supply ran dangerously low at the lighthouse he walked across the frozen sound, in a blinding blizzard from the lighthouse to the mainland. The walk took him one full day, one full night and part of the next day. He retired in 1926 after 35 years of lighthouse service. In the 1950s, after it was no longer needed, the lighthouse was discontinued and demolished. Surprisingly, for a lighthouse that stood until the 1950s, very few photographs of the lighthouse seem to exist.

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Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse. The fog bell hung ...

Long Shoal Lighthouse

The Long Lighthouse was built in 1867 at the east point of Long Shoal on west side of Pamlico Sound near Engelhard, North Carolina. It had a fixed white light with a range of eleven nautical miles. The date that it was destroyed is unclear.

Neuse River Lighthouse

Built in 1862, on a shoal off Piney Point on the south side of the entrance to the Neuse River in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina’s Neuse River Lighthouse was nearly identical to Croatan Shoals and Long Island Shoal Lighthouse. It no longer stands.

North River Lighthouse

The North River Lighthouse, also known as the North River Bar Lighthouse, was built in 1866 on a bar at the entrance to the North River of Albemarle Sound near Old Trap, North Carolina. In 1917 its legs collapsed after being crushed by ice flows and it was discontinued. The government sold the structure in 1920 and it was moved to land where it was used as the Rodanthe School until 1951. Although additions have been made to the structure, it still stands today as the Chicamancomico Community center, as was reported in the March 2007 edition of Lighthouse Digest.

Southwest Point Royal Shoal Light

With a name as regal as Southwest Point Royal Shoal you would think there would be pages of information available about this lighthouse. But there is not. Built in 1867 in Pamlico Sound to replace a lightship that was stationed there from 1826 to 1861 the lighthouse no longer stands. Memories of life at the lighthouse have disappeared and been lost in time as those who were “in the know” passed on. Even the only photo of the lighthouse that we have been able to find is somewhat blurry, almost as if it was trying to be forgotten.

Wade Point Lighthouse

From 1926 to 1855 a lightship marked this site until the Wade Point Lighthouse was built at Wade Point Shoal, Albemarle Sound, at the entrance to the Pasquotank River. The first lighthouse structure was heavily damaged in the Civil War, but it was restored in 1866. It lasted until 1899 when it was rebuilt by a similar structure right next to the old one. When Joseph Mercer was the lighthouse keeper here, he was awarded a plaque that said, “Best Kept Lighthouse in the 5th District,” something that he was quite proud of. Mercer’s grandson, Willard Forbes, in recalling that his grandfather would put his hands in his pockets so that the cloth of his trousers was all that touched the polished brass door handles to avoid smudges, said “He wore a hole in his pants from opening the doors.” On December 31, 1917 Mercer awoke in the morning to find that the lighthouse was surrounded by ice. As the ice got harder and moved, it snapped the iron pilings that the lighthouse rested upon. Mercer evacuated the lighthouse and walked to shore. Amazingly, after the ice melted the lighthouse still stood, doing a sort of balancing act on the bent, snapped, and cracked base of the pilings. The pilings were welded back together and the lighthouse continued to serve until it was decommissioned in the early 1950s.

In 1955 the government sold Wade Point Lighthouse to Elijah Tate who attempted to move the lighthouse to shore. However, during the process, it slipped off its perch as it was being transferred onto a barge and fell apart and sank. Locals recalled that pieces of the old light washed up on the shore.

Bluff Shoal Lighthouse

The Bluff Shoal Lighthouse appeared to be in immaculate condition when this photo was taken that shows the keeper standing proudly on the outer deck of the house. The curtains were drawn to protect the Fourth order lens from the harmful rays of the sun. Built in 1904 near the middle of Bluff Shoal in the west part of Pamlico Sound, it no longer stands and the memories of life at beacon seem to have been washed away.

Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse

A lighthouse built on land originally marked this area as far back as 1831. However, that changed in 1858 when the first Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse was built. It lasted until 1877 when the structure shown here was completed in Croatan Sound southwest of Roanoke Island. Veteran lighthouse keeper Unaka Jennette, noted for his years of service at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, served the last four years of his lighthouse service at Roanoke Marshes - retiring in 1943. By the 1950s the lighthouse was no longer needed and it was sold to Elijah Tate who planned to move it to shore. In 1955, as it was being floated on the barge, rough seas came up and the structure slipped off the barge and sank. In September of 2004, the Town of Manteo dedicated a replica of the lighthouse that they had built.

This story appeared in the Mar/Apr 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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