>> Click to enlarge << “Old Baldy” Lighthouse with the new Smith Island ... Photo by: Jane Kerr

If you haven’t visited the new Smith Island Museum of History, it’s probably because you haven’t yet heard about it.

>> Click to enlarge << Reese Swan, youngest son of Captain Charles Swan, ... Photo by: Jane Kerr

The new museum is housed in a replica of the 1850’s lighthouse keeper’s quarters at North Carolina’s Bald Head Lighthouse, known more affectionately as “Old Baldy.”

>> Click to enlarge << The new replica of the Keepers Quarters at Bald ... Photo by: Jane Kerr

Many treasures from Bald Island’s past are on display in the museum, but more importantly to lighthouse, aficionados, are the lighthouse artifacts.

>> Click to enlarge << Bald Head Lighthouse, circa 1850’s, showing the ...

Among the museum’s most prized displays are a 1908 Lighthouse Keepers uniform and two glass lens panels that were taken from the Cape Fear Lighthouse before it was blown up.

Construction of the museum was made possible by a donation from the Bald Head Island Management Company, which is owned by the Mitchell family, the current developers of the island.

Cutting the ribbon that opened the museum was Reese Swan, youngest son of Captain Charles Swan, keeper of the Cape Fear Lighthouse from 1903 until his retirement in 1933.

For more information on the Smith Island Museum of History, contact the Bald Head Island Information Center

5079 Southport Supply Road

Southport, NC 28461,

or call them at

910-457-5000.