Roanoke River Light

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The 1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse is the last of fifteen screwpile Light Stations on North Carolina sounds and rivers. In some ways it is the most historic lighthouse in the state. It is the only one of it’s kind in the country, since it is the only screwpile light left in the country.

William Biddle Shepard, February 6, 1832, petitioned the U.S. House of Representatives for a light station to aid sailors in finding a safe entrance to the Roanoke River. In 1834, Congress provided $10,000 to construct a light at the mouth of the Roanoke River.

In 1835, a 125 ton, three-masted sailing ship was stationed across the Albemarle Sound from Edenton Bay, two miles from the mouth of the Roanoke River. This became one of ten floating beacons anchored in waters of North Carolina, from 1823 to 1836. Once anchored, whale-oil lights with red, green, and blue lenses, hung 43 feet above the water. The light was visible 13 miles out. Though plans were already in place to replace the lightship with an actual lighthouse, in April of 1861, the Civil War began. That September, at the Confederacy’s request, the lightship was towed by a steamboat, 40 miles up river to Williamston. They were hoping to prevent the lightship from being a navigation aid to the federal ships. The Confederate’s controlled the light vessel, during the war, until the Union forces captured Plymouth, in late March 1864.

In 1866, the first Roanoke River lighthouse, a one-and-a-half story screwpile lighthouse was constructed. It was located six miles down river from Plymouth, on the east side of the channel, in Batchelor’s Bay, off the Albemarle Sound. The lighthouse was originally lit in January 1867, again using whale oil in it’s lense. The lighthouse was completely destroyed by fire, in March of 1885.

A lighthouse at the mouth of of the Roanoke River was put into service. In February of 1885, ice on Albemarle Sound destroyed the pilings under the lighthouse. This caused part of the structure to collapse and be submerged in the water. Following the destruction of this lighthouse, a temporary light was rigged to replace the collapsed structure.

A new lighthouse was authorized for construction. It was the third lighthouse within two years. In September of 1886 work began. The current two-and-a-half-story lighthouse was completd in 1887. The US Coast Guard deactivated the lighthouse in 1941.

In 1955 the Coast Guard sold this sound lighthouses to Elijah Tate for $10 each. In 1886, after a string of bad luck, Tate sold the Roanoke River Lighthouse to Emmett Wiggins for $10. Wiggins moved the lighthouse across Albemarle Sound to Edenton. Then in 1946 he purchased land at the mouth of Filberts Creek in the Albania neighborhood west of Edenton. He then sank the Landing Craft Infantry that he had moved the Lighthouse with and filled marshland around it with riprap*. This became his home until he passed.

In May 2007, the Edenton Historical Commission bought the Roanoke River Lighthouse for $225,000. They then paid $75,000 to move it to Colonial Park in Edenton. In addition, the Coast Guard also gave the Town of Edenton a fourth-order Fresnel Lighthouse Lamp. Today, with it’s 21 steps, it is the soundest out of all the Lighthouses in North Carolina. Even after all it’s moves, it remains solid and secure.

Edenton Historical Commission is raising funds to protect the Lighthouse
and gratefully accepts tax-deductible donations for Lighthouse support.
Mail or deliver checks to Barker House, 505 S Broad St, Edenton, NC 27932

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*riprap - a layer of stone or chunks of concrete on an embankment slope to prevent erosion.