ROANOKE RIVER LIGHT
Edenton, North Carolina

    The Roanoke River Light Station was originally established on Albemarle Sound in 1835, when a three-masted sailing ship was converted into a light station, to help navigators find safe entrance into the Roanoke River.   During the Civil War, it is believed that the ship was scuttled in an effort to stop the blockade runners.   In 1866, a screwpile lighthouse was built to replace the earlier ship.  However, that station was destroyed by ice in 1885. 

The current light was built in 1887, and was originally situated on Albemarle Sound, near the mouth of the Roanoke River, about six miles northeast of Plymouth, NC.  The white, thirty-five foot, square wood tower was attached to a two-story keeper's house and housed a Fourth-Order Fresnel lens.  It was deactivated in 1941, and in 1955, it was relocated to the town of Edenton, NC, and used as a private residence.

This page was updated, with pictures taken July 8, 2006, to show how much this structure has deteriorated since 2003.  To see my original page, with the 2003 photographs, click here.   Half of the pictures below were taken from the residential area of Pembroke Circle, and the other half from the grounds of the lighthouse.  Please respect property rights and obtain owner permission if you plan to photograph from private property.

How quaint this stucture must seem to those that travel this way by boat.

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