When was price's creek lighthouse built

This rather decrepit and inaccessible structure is the largest remaining piece of the system of lights that served the once-bustling trade route from the mouth of Cape Fear River to Wilmington. For years, merchants and mariners had lobbied for lights to mark this twenty-five-mile-long passage, and on August 14, 1848, $35,500 was finally appropriated for seven beacons and a lightship.

These navigational aids were, from south to north, range lights at Oak Island, range lights at Price’s Creek, a lightship at Horseshoe Shoal, a beacon on Orton’s Point, a beacon on Campbell’s Island, and a beacon on Upper Jettee.

Click herefor a map showing the location of these aids using GPS coordinates from an 1858 light list.

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The range lights were built in pairs, with a shorter light in front of a taller light. By positioning their vessels so that the taller light appeared directly above the shorter light, mariners knew they were safely in the center of the channel.

All the lights were built in 1849