Oak Island Lighthouse
300a Caswell Beach Rd, Oak Island, NC 28465, USA
Name and Location
The Oak Island Lighthouse is located at 300a Caswell Beach Road, Fort Caswell Beach neighborhood, Oak Island, Brunswick County, North Carolina 28465, United States. Its official coordinates are 33.8928171 N, 78.0349349 W.
Construction and History
The Oak Island Lighthouse was completed in 1958 as a replacement for several smaller range lights further east on the island. It serves as a major Atlantic Coast navigational aid and a local tourist landmark. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP ref. no. 07000293) under criteria A (maritime history) and C (architecture).
Architecture and Materials
The Oak Island Lighthouse is a mid-20th-century functionalist maritime tower designed by U.S. Coast Guard civil engineers. The tower has a cylindrical steel shell on a reinforced-concrete foundation, with an internal ladder and gallery. It features a distinctive white, grey, and black banded finish to aid day-mark recognition.
Light and Navigation
The lighthouse stands at 153 feet (46.6 m) tall above ground, but its focal plane is 168 feet (51.2 m) above mean high water. The light characteristic is a group-flash of four white flashes every 10 seconds (Fl(4) W 10s), with a nominal range of 22 nautical miles.
Accessibility and Visiting
The tower interior is closed to the public, but the grounds are open daily from dawn till dusk without fee. Visitors can access the lighthouse via Caswell Beach Road off State Route 1100 on Oak Island. The site features a paved parking area, public restrooms, and an interpretation kiosk with information about the lighthouse's history and coastal ecology.
Notable Views and Landscape
The lighthouse offers panoramic ocean and Cape Fear River inlet vistas from its base gallery platform, as well as striking sunsets to the west. Photo opportunities abound for capturing these views and more.
Anecdotes and Folklore
Local legend has it that on storm-dark nights the tower's banding appears to shift in the fog—a perceptual effect attributed to lighthouse keepers before automation.
Technical and Operational Details
The lighthouse is fully automated, monitored remotely by U.S. Coast Guard Sector South Carolina. It does not have a dedicated radar installation but features a racon reflector for vessel electronic detection.
Further Information
- Please visit the Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island_Light, or explore the Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse website at https://www.oakislandlighthouse.com.
Details
| Name | Oak Island Lighthouse |
|---|---|
| City | Oak Island |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 33.8928171, -78.0349349 |
| Year of construction | 1958 |
| Stories | Local legend holds that on storm-dark nights the tower's banding appears to shift in the fog��a perceptual effect attributed to lighthouse keepers before automation. |
| Architectural style | mid-20th-century functionalist maritime tower |
| Construction material | "steel" |
| Focal height | 51.5 |
| Tower height | 153 |
| Heritage status | true |
| Access description | via Caswell Beach Road off State Route 1100 on Oak Island; paved parking area and public restrooms on site. |
| Accessible | true |
| Parking | true |
| Landscape type | low coastal dunes, maritime forest behind the beach, Federal land leased to North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for bird nesting habitat |
| View description | panoramic ocean and Cape Fear River inlet vistas from the base gallery platform; striking sunsets to the west. |
| Guided tours | true |
| Facilities | paved parking area, public restrooms |
| Opening hours | daily dawn–dusk without fee |
| Nearby attractions | ["Fort Caswell Historic District (Civil War era fortifications)","Oak Island Pier","Middleton Park"] |
| Light characteristic | "Fl(4) W 10s" |
| Light range | 22 |
| Automated | true |