NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, August 30, 2020
276th Weekly Edition
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8/30/2020 1:00 PM
The Oak Island Lighthouse is located in the Town of Caswell Beach near the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Southeastern North Carolina. It sits next to the Oak Island Coast Guard Station on the east end of Oak Island in Brunswick County looking south out at the Atlantic Ocean. Featuring four 2.5 million candlepower aerobeacon lenses which produce four, one-second bursts of light every 10 seconds, it has a luminous range of 24 nautical miles. Owned by the town since 2004, it is managed by a citizens group (Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse).
History
In May 1958, the Oak Island Lighthouse replaced the Cape Fear Light, a steel skeleton structure on Bald Head Island which was demolished that same year. The Cape Fear Light began operation in 1903 and was then a functional replacement for the still standing and now popular tourist attraction, the 1817 Bald Head Light (Old Baldy). During the period 1958–1962, the Oak Island Light was the brightest in the US (the Charleston Light in South Carolina now holds that distinction).
In February 2002, it became a news item when the adjoining USCG Station caught fire, and while the station burned to the ground, the lighthouse suffered no damage. Rebuilt over the existing foundation, the current Coast Guard station closely resembles the old one.[3] The following year, the lighthouse was designated as surplus and in 2004 the Town of Caswell Beach gained ownership from the Federal Government of it, the surrounding grounds and adjacent oceanfront property. The transfer agreement requires the town to maintain the property for recreation purposes with the Coast Guard continuing to be responsible for operating the beacon. [4] In April 2007, the Oak Island Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[5] A major exterior rehabilitation of the structure was completed in 2016 by the International Chimney Corporation (the same company that moved the Cape Hatteras Light).
Construction
Built in 1957-58 by Brinkley, W.F. & Son Construction Co. located in Granite Quarry NC at a cost of $110,000, it was one of the last lighthouses constructed in the US. It rests on 24 pilings driven 67' deep to bedrock which are 10" round, filled with concrete and capped by a 30' wide by 3' deep octagonal concrete base. As for the structure itself, 142' of it is poured concrete, the top 52' of which is black, the middle 50' white, and the bottom 40' feet cement grey. The black and white colors are not painted on the structure, having instead been mixed into the concrete at the time the tower was constructed. On top of all of this sits an 11' tall aluminum and glass light enclosure. The inside of the tower has a uniform diameter of a little more than 16' 4", with the exterior concrete walls 8" thick.[7] While the overall structure is 153' tall, it was sited on a small knoll, which has nautical charts showing the light as being 169' above sea level.
Construction Features of the Oak Island Lighthouse, Beacon Characteristics and more.
The base is set upon 24 concrete-filled steel pilings 10 3/4 inches in diameter and 67 feet deep. The pilings are capped by a 30 foot wide by 3 foot deep octagonal concrete base upon which the tower structure was built. The main tower is 128 feet tall, built of monolithic reinforced concrete. It was poured continuously into a movable form that was raised by jacks at the rate of one foot per hour. To accomplish this task a concrete mixing plant was set up on the site to allow for the continuous 24 hour a day operation for 7 days. The tower has a uniform inside diameter of 16 feet 4 3/4 inches. The wall is 8 inches thick, and the three stripe color pattern is permanently cast into the concrete.
To establish a color for each section the first forty feet is the natural gray of Portland cement. The next fifty feet was poured with white Portland cement and white quartz aggregate for the white color. The top fifty two feet is a gray Portland cement with black coloring. The smaller diameter concrete section at the top was formed with stationary metal forms after the top floor was poured. Windows in the tower were constructed of stainless steel but sashes have been replace with vinyl. The 11 foot tall aluminum lantern housing was installed by Marine Corps helicopters. Total height of the structure above the foundation slab is 153 feet.
Beacon
The characteristic flashing pattern for the light is four one-second flashes every 10 seconds. The lighting apparatus in the Oak Island Lighthouse is made up of 8 aero beacon lighting fixtures, 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. When first activated in 1958, the lower bank used carbon-arc mercury lamps in 36-inch reflectors. These reflectors with their housings were adapted from aircraft spotlights used in World War II. When these lamps were in use the Oak Island light was the brightest in the US and second brightest in the world. When the upper bank of lights, using 24 inch reflectors and 1000 watt incandecent bulbs became the primary beacon in 1962, the 36 inch bottom lights were decomissioned and the lighthouse lost that distinction. In April of 2010, all of the electrical supply lines, conduit, boxes, plugs and wiring were updated to conform to current codes and new 1000 watt halogen bulbs replaced the 1000 watt incandescent bulbs.
Miscellaneous Station Information
The Oak Island light is located on property that has been in use as a US Coast Guard station since the 1930s, and prior to that it was a US Lifesaving Station. The current Coast Guard station was recently reconstructed after a fire completely destroyed the ten-year-old building in 2002. The new station house is built over the footprint of the lost station, and closely resembles the older station.
In 2004 the lighthouse and the surrounding property were deeded to the Town of Caswell Beach along with adjacent beachfront property. While the Coast Guard has retained responsibility for the upkeep of the lights, Caswell Beach now has responsibility for maintenance of the lighthouse and the grounds. The town has made provisions for additional parking as well as providing access to the lighthouse grounds and a boardwalk access to the beach with an observation deck. During the summer of 2006, the Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse began assembling volunteers and providing visitors the opportunity to tour the tower.
Due to the Executive order issued by Governor Cooper on Saturday 3/14/20 stating that all public venues be canceled until further notice, the Town of Caswell Beach and the Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse will comply and have suspended all tours until at least the last week of September. No reservations for any tours will be accepted at this time. Please check back the last week of September for an update on the status of tours. Our primary concern is for the safety of our visitors and health of our all volunteer staff.
Your link to hundreds of Oak Island photos and works of art.
Thanks again, hope you are enjoying this series on North Carolina Lighthouses.