{"nrhp_refnum":"72000097","name":"Cape Lookout Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"On Core Banks","address_restricted":false,"city":"Core Banks","county":"Carteret County","state":"NC","lat":34.62338406750004,"lon":-76.52461504330086,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-10-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Communications"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of lighthouse and associated structures on Core Banks, Carteret County, North Carolina, across Barden Inlet from Shackleford Banks. It includes a 169-foot brick lighthouse built 1857-1859, a keeper's dwelling of 1873, and several outbuildings.","why_significant":"The 1857-1859 lighthouse became the prototype for all lighthouses later erected on the Outer Banks. It is one of two North Carolina lighthouses built before the Civil War, and its beam and checkered pattern have long served as a warning and landmark for mariners near the dangerous Core Banks shoals.","narrative":"Cape Lookout Light Station occupies the sandy expanse of Core Banks, North Carolina, facing Barden Inlet and the Atlantic. The complex includes a 169-foot conical brick lighthouse painted in a black and white diamond pattern, a brick keeper's dwelling from 1873, a generator house, a coal and wood shed, and a small cement block oil house. The tower was built between 1857 and 1859 to replace an earlier lighthouse threatened by drifting sand, and its light began operating in November 1859. Confederate troops damaged the tower and ruined the lens during the Civil War, but the light was working again by 1863. An iron spiral stair replaced the original wooden one in 1867. The lighthouse became the prototype for later Outer Banks lighthouses, and it warns ships of shoals extending about ten miles seaward. Sand mounds nearby are said to mark the first lighthouse.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (lighthouse 1857-1859; keeper's quarters 1873)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered, on its original site; the form marks the property as occupied and in government and private residence use. Later letters describe it as endangered by erosion.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.161716-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/7194/47719430/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/72000097.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000097/1d2c720a84-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000097/1d2c720a84-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Jarek Tuszyński","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Lookout_Lighthouse_-_2013-06_-_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jarek Tuszyński</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Lookout_Lighthouse_-_2013-06_-_01.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00000692","name":"Cape Lookout Village Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/cape-lookout-village-historic-district-00000692/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719430","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Lookout_Lighthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4286379"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/carteret-county/cape-lookout-light-station-72000097/"}