The Price Creek Lighthouse, also known as the Price's Creek Lighthouse, is a structure located near Southport, North Carolina. It was one of two range lights at Price Creek in a series of lights to guide ships from Cape Fear to Wilmington, North Carolina.[1][2][3][4]
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| Location | Southport, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°56′9″N 77°59′23″W / 33.93583°N 77.98972°W |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1849 |
| Construction | Brick |
| Height | 26 feet (7.9 m) |
| Shape | Conical |
| Light | |
| Deactivated | ca. 1860s |
| Focal height | 31 feet (9.4 m) |
| Lens | 8 lamps with 18-inch (460 mm) reflectors |
History
editOn August 14, 1848, $35,500 was appropriated for the construction of seven beacons and one lightship along the Cape Fear River. The Wood Brothers, John C. Wood and Robert B. Wood, were contracted to build the lights at Price’s Creek, and were paid a sum of $5,660 for the job.[5]
In 1849, a two-story, brick lightkeeper's house with a wooden lantern was built as one of the lights. During the American Civil War, this served the Confederacy as a signal house to communicate between Fort Fisher and Fort Caswell. This house suffered severe storm damage, and locals carted off many of its bricks.[4]
The second range light is a conical brick tower originally 20 feet (6 m) tall with a base diameter of 17 feet (5 m). The light was approximately 25 feet (8 m) above sea level. The bricks had been imported from England. It originally had eight lamps with reflectors measuring 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter.[1]In 1855 the lamps were replaced with a 6th order Fresnel lens that produced a fixed white light. The tower was later extended to a height of 26 feet (8 m), but suffered damage from shells during the Civil War. The lantern has been removed.[4]
The surviving range light is located at the edge of Archer Daniels Midland's industrial site on the bank of the Cape Fear River. It is currently in private hands, but can be best viewed from the Southport-Fort Fisher ferry or from the ferryboat landing at Southport.[1][4]
Pictures
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Bansemer, Roger, Bansemer's Book of Carolina & Georgia Lighthouses, Pineapple Press, Sarasota, FL, 2000, pp. 50-53, ISBN 1-56164-194-4.
- ^ Harrison, Tom, and Jones, Ray, Endangered Lighthouses, Globe Pequot Press, Guildord, CT, 2001, p. 40, ISBN 0-7627-0815-8.
- ^ Roberts, Bruce, and Jones, Ray, Southern Lighthouses: Outer Banks to Cape Florida, 3rd ed., Globe Pequot Press, Guildord, CT, 2002, p. 27, ISBN 0-7627-1243-0.
- ^ a b c d Zepke, Terrance, Lighthouse of the Carolinas, Pineapple Press, Sarasota, FL, 2002, pp. 57-60, ISBN 1-56164-148-0.
- ^ N/A. https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/buildings/B001656.
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