Cape Fear Light, Historic lighthouse on Bald Head Island, United States
Cape Fear Light is a lighthouse on Bald Head Island, North Carolina, painted with black and white spiral bands that make it easy to spot from a distance. The site also includes three keepers' houses and a storage building, all part of the same historic complex.
The tower was built in 1903 to replace an earlier lighthouse that had proven inadequate for guiding ships through the treacherous shoals off the North Carolina coast. It operated for about 55 years before being decommissioned in 1958, when modern navigation technology made it less necessary.
The keepers' houses that still stand near the tower give a sense of what daily life looked like for the families who lived here year-round. The site is woven into the identity of Bald Head Island, where it remains one of the few visible traces of the island's working past.
Bald Head Island is only reachable by ferry, so planning the crossing is a key part of the visit. Once on the island, no cars are allowed, so expect to walk or rent a golf cart to reach the lighthouse from the dock.
After the lighthouse was shut down, its French-made Fresnel lens was taken apart and sold piece by piece to an antique dealer, which is a rare fate for a navigation instrument of that kind. The lens was never reassembled, so no complete version of it exists today.
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