{"nrhp_refnum":"78001931","name":"Cape Fear Lighthouse Complex","other_names":["Cap'n Charlie's Cottages"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Kure Beach","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kure Beach","county":"Brunswick County","state":"NC","lat":33.84501276350005,"lon":-77.96698834764534,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-08-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of three lighthouse keepers' houses and a supply shed at the southeast end of Smith Island (Bald Head Island) at Cape Fear, Brunswick County, North Carolina, built in 1903 along with the Cape Fear Lighthouse.","why_significant":"The houses and shed are the only standing remains of the 1903 Cape Fear Lighthouse station, the third lighthouse built on Smith Island. The complex is tied to coastal navigation and North Carolina seaborne commerce, and to head keeper Captain Charlie Swan, who served thirty years. State officials rated its significance as local.","narrative":"Three wooden keepers' houses and a board-and-batten supply shed survive at the southeast end of Smith Island, also called Bald Head Island, near Cape Fear in Brunswick County, North Carolina. They are what remains of a station completed in 1903 around the Cape Fear Lighthouse, a 159-foot steel skeleton tower first lit on August 31 of that year. The lighthouse was the third on the island, after those of 1796 and 1817 (\"Old Baldy\"). The houses are one-story-plus-attic frame buildings on brick piers, with full-length front porches and a symmetry reminiscent of the Stick Style. Head keeper Charlie Swan, known locally as \"Cap'n Charlie,\" lived in one house for thirty years until 1933, and his two assistants lived in the others. The Coast Guard shut the light in 1958 after a new lighthouse opened on Oak Island, and the tower was demolished that September. The surviving buildings document the working life of a coastal light that supported shipping and commerce.","period_of_significance":"1903","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Stick Style allusions","criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked unoccupied and in fair condition; the lighthouse was demolished in 1958 but its foundation and generator shed remain. The new owners intend to renovate the buildings.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.099255-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/7191/47719119/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/78001931.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001931/1499f144cb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001931/1499f144cb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"KudzuVine","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Captain_Charlie%27s_Station,_Bald_Head_Island_(Brunswick_County,_North_Carolina).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">KudzuVine</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Captain_Charlie%27s_Station,_Bald_Head_Island_(Brunswick_County,_North_Carolina).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719119","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5034789"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/brunswick-county/cape-fear-lighthouse-complex-78001931/"}