The lighthouses on North Carolina's Outer Banks aren't squatty little things. There would have been no point. With a coastline as treacherous and as shallow as those barrier islands, anything less than what the Federal Lighthouse Board built along that coast would have been a sad waste of money and time.
Currituck Beach Lighthouse, circa 1875, was the last of the major 19th century lights to be built. In addition to its great height, which measures 158 feet, the light needed to be visually distinguishable in daylight from its counterparts down the way, many of which were decorated with distinctive black and white patterns to mark their identities. In that vein, the designers elected to leave Currituck's red brick facade unpainted.
Beyond functionality, those same designers did not scrimp on design details, either. Victorian elements begin at the ornate, bracketed iron gallery circling the lens, and extend all the way down to the oil house and the small lightkeeper's village beyond that. In fact, the architecture of the keeper's residences is some of the most beautiful in the region - hidden today for the most part by large trees that have grown up on the site. While the trees make it nearly impossible to catch a good shot of these gorgeous old residences, they are there - beautifully restored and well maintained - making a visit to Currituck a visual treat.
As you can see from the photo, the beauty of this place still shines. We should probably thank those federal lighthouse designers, whoever they were. I'm not sure they were required to turn this place into a living work of art, but I'm really glad they did.
Photo of Currituck Lighthouse by Beth Yarbrough.