Out and About....visiting the Oak Harbor Lighthouse

As is our custom while at the beach, we take a day and explore some of the surrounding areas sights to be seen.  I was inspired by another homeschooling friend to visit a lighthouse.  However, this visit had to be fairly inexpensive.  There were two lighthouses we could visit....this one had the price tag of free, and that's my favorite price tag of all!  

So out we went to see a light house....the Oak Harbor Lighthouse at Caswell Beach.  This lighthouse guides ships from the Frying Pan Shoals near the Cape Fear River Basin area.  It was built in 1958 by the US Coast Guard, it's 148 feet tall and is able to be seen over the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean.

We learned that all lighthoused have distinct painting patterns on the outside and thier light beams also have a individual pattern to them.  This inables sailors to tell by the light beams and the color where they are by sight from the sea.  Oak Harbor's light pattern consists of 4 quick white flashes,  one second apart, every ten seconds.

 

 

They were limiting visitors to the lighthouse by age....Liam and Brianne were just too small....

 

Another disticnt feature of this lighthouse is that the stairs were fashioned after stairs found in naval ships, as opposed to the circular fashion that is typical in most older lighthouses.

Here are some examples of the lights and bulbs that were used in the past.  Oak Harbor once had the most powerful lights found on tha lighthouse in all of America.  The power of the lights has been lessened, but still remains on of the strongest beams in the US.  It's now controlled my computer, thus no constant need for men's care.

Although it doesn't have the charm as the older 1800's lighthouses do, it is impressive in it's own right.  We weren't able to climb to the top, but maybe next time....or another lighthouse.  I'd love to see more.

Afterwards, we crossed the road to the beach area overlooking the Atlantic Ocean to the the younger ones....and get a quick family photo!   Then we were off to visit Southport, NC. They had a free history walking tour, plus, many movies have used this charming sea coastal town for their filming--namely 'A Walk to Remember'.  There were many wonderful old homes to see and some graveyards with Confederate soilders--wierd, I know, but we like looking at and imagine what these peoples lives might have been like.  There were also some neat summer fair like vendors with musicians playing country music in the center square to watch, observe and listen too.

We went on the pier and saw Oak Harbor Lighthouse from the Cape Fear River direction and enjoyed tha sight of the area.

However, it was increadably hot and humid....couple that with cranky hungry kids, and we decided to cut our losses for this venue.  We climbed aboard the "BMW" as Barry calls it (Big Mormon Wagon) and headed off to find a bite to eat and cool off in the air conditioned suburban.