North Carolina
Architecture
Lighthouses
Map of NC Coast
The coast of North Carolina is a chain of
barrier islands known as “The Outer Banks”.
Several of America's tallest and best known
lighthouses were built to warn ships away
from this dangerous coast.
The Graveyard of the Atlantic
A Cape is a landform which sticks out into a sea,
ocean, lake or river. North Carolina’s three great
capes are Cape Fear, Cape Lookout and Cape
Hatteras. Under the water off these capes are dangerous
shoals which have caused over 2000 ships to sink off our coast.
Due to these sunken ships, the area around Cape Hatteras
has earned its name as “The Graveyard of the Atlantic”.
Cape Fear
Cape Lookout
Cape Hatteras
NC
Lighthouse
Designs
Currituck Beach
• Stands 162 feet tall and has a
total of 214 steps to the top.
• Light is still operational and
visible for 19 miles.
• Built in 1875, the Currituck
Lighthouse was the last brick
lighthouse to be built on the
Outer Banks to fill a forty mile
stretch of darkness between
Cape Henry, VA and Cape
Hatteras, NC.
Bodie Island
• Bodie Island was originally
named after the family who
owned the land.
• Folklore often pronounced
the name as ‘body’ island
instead, as a result of the
many shipwrecked bodies
that washed ashore on the
island.
• Rising 165 feet and painted
with striking black and
white stripes.
• The third attempt to
illuminate the perilous
stretch of coast between
Cape Hatteras and
Currituck Beach.
Cape Hatteras
• Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the
tallest in the nation and a famous
symbol of North Carolina.
• Its design of black and white spiral
stripes has earned it the nickname
as the “Big Barber Pole”.
• In the summer of 1999, as the
ever-encroaching waters of the
Atlantic Ocean threaten the
structure, the Cape Hatteras Light
was moved from its original
location.
• Still in working operation, the light
at the top is automated and visible
every 7.5 seconds and in good
visibility conditions, the beacon
can often be seen for 20 miles.
Ocracoke
• The Ocracoke Lighthouse is
North Carolina’s oldest
operating lighthouse and the
second oldest in the nation.
• At seventy-five feet, it is the
shortest lighthouse on the North
Carolina Coast and can be
only be seen for 14 miles.
• By 1718, Blackbeard had come
to regard Ocracoke as his
favorite anchorage. He even
reportedly had a house on the
island, which he intended to
use as a sort of pirate haven.
Cape Lookout
• The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is a 163-foot
high.
• It flashes every 15 seconds and is visible at
least 12 miles out to sea and up to 19 miles.
• The Cape Lookout Light is one of the very
few lighthouses that operate during the day.
• The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is the only
such structure in the United States to bear
the checkered daymark, which is the
diamond pattern.
• This diamond pattern is to tell the difference
between the lighthouses and also to show
direction. The side points of the black
diamonds point in a north-south direction,
while the side points of the white diamonds
point east-west.
Oak Island
• There is no spiral staircase as
found in most older
lighthouses, but instead a
series of ships ladders with a
total of 131 steps to the
lantern gallery level.
• Built in 1958, it is one of the
most recent lighthouses built
on American shores.
• There are three bands of
color on the lighthouse
made with different colors of
cement, so the lighthouse
never needs painting.
Bald Head Island
• Called “Old Baldy”
• Built in 1817, It is the oldest
standing lighthouse in
North Carolina
• The octagonal tower is
constructed of brick and
painted with plaster on the
exterior. The ground floor is
made of brick, while the
remaining floor joist and
the stairs are made from
North Carolina Yellow Pine.
• Marks the mouth of the
historic Cape Fear River.
Currituck
Bodie Island
Cape Hatteras
Ocracoke
Cape Lookout
Oak Island
Bald Head Island
All Eight
Lighthouse designs
Cape Lookout
Ocracoke
Cape Hatteras