The Ocracoke Island Lighthouse may not be the most imposing of the Outer Banks lighthouses, but as North Carolina's oldest lighthouse in operation, (and the second oldest in the United States), it is certainly one of the most beloved. At just 65' ft. tall, it is by far the smallest lighthouse on the Outer Banks, but it still towers over the 4 square miles of Ocracoke Village, and its beacon can be spotted up to 14 miles into the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.
Summary: Ocracoke Lighthouse was built by Noah Porter in 1823 after the Shell Castle Island lighthouse was destroyed by lightning in 1818. Another reason that the lighthouse was built on Ocracoke Island was the shifting of sand away from Shell Castle Island and into Ocracoke Inlet.
