A Screw-pile Lighthouse

While we were at the Penelope Barker House/Welcome Center we noticed a lighthouse just across the water from us. Like I have said, it was very hot so we did not walk over there. But, I do want to sometime, when I feel like I can climb the steps without melting. 

The Roanoke River Lighthouse was built around 1886 and is believed to be the last remaining original square screw-pile lighthouse in existence. (More about screw-piles in a minute)

Once there were 15 screw-pile light stations along the North Carolina inland waterways. This particular lighthouse was in the Albemarle Sound marking the entrance to the Roanoke River near Plymouth. 

In 1941 the lighthouse was decommissioned. So there it sat, all alone and abandoned until 1955 when the Federal government (yep, our government was at it again, destroying our history) ordered the decommissioned lighthouses moved or done away with. 

A Mr. Tate bought three of them but two did not survive the move. I guess that pretty much disheartened Mr. Tate. He lost interest so an Emmett Wiggins bought the last surviving lighthouse from Mr. Tate and performed what people call an engineering feat by transporting it to Edenton. Mr. Wiggins lived in it until 1995 and it remained in his family until after he had passed away. 

In 2012 the lighthouse was moved to it's permanent location in Edenton Bay. In 2014 it was open to the public. 

Now for screw-piles. What you may ask are screw-piles. You may have seen pilings driven into the mud beneath the water of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. Here is some information that is posted just above a screw-pile in the hallway of the Barker House. 
(click on picture to read more clearly)

This is the last post of our visit to Colonial Park in Edenton, North Carolina. There is more to come of the rest of our trip to Edenton so come back often for that. 

If you missed the last of the two Edenton posts that I have done, you can catch the last one HERE