Height of tower: 65 feet, 75 feet to focal plane, Year Completed: 1823 (Oldest operating lighthouse on NC coast), Signal Distance: 14 Nautical Miles, Signal Pattern: Fixed white light. Ocracoke Inlet was first put on the map when English explorers wrecked a sailing ship there in 1585. During the 1700s it became on of the busiest inlets on the East Coast. For many years it was the only navigable waterway for ships trying to get to inland ports including Elizabeth City, New Bern, and Edenton. North Carolina authorized a lighthouse on one of the islands (then existing) on the south side of Ocracoke Inlet in 1789. But with the formation of a national government after independence had been declared from England, the new nation had its own Congress and ownership and responsibility for all lighthouses was transferred to the Department of the Treasury. The new colonial government approved the Shell Castle Lighthouse and the Treasury Department arranged funding for the light in 1794. The light was mostly wooden and about fifty-five feet tall. Also completed was a 29' X 50' keeper's house and a 200 gallon oil vault made of three cedar cisterns. The light was exhibited in 1798 but it was a "spider light" (oil fed wicks in a metal frame) and not very bright. The uncontrolled heat from the lamps caused much trouble and poor ventilation in the lighthouse dimmed the already weak light. Trouble plagued the Shell Castle Lighthouse, but in 1818 trouble peaked when lightning destroyed both the tower and the keeper's house. By the time a replacement lighthouse for Ocracoke was approved, the main channel had shifted, as it often does on the Outer Banks, and the new lighthouse went to Ocracoke Island. A lightship marked the waning inlet's entrance between 1820 and 1823.

Noah Porter of Massachusetts won the contract and built the sixty-five foot tall Ocracoke Lighthouse for $11,360. The lantern room is a bit off-center and one side of the tower is steeper than the other though architectural plans show all details in line. It received a coating of cement over brick and was whitewashed with a concoction of boiled, glued-on rice. Keepers had to apply the thick mixture from boiling vats as quickly as possible. It is said Ocracoke's heyday was in the 1840s when a constant parade of oceangoing and sailing vessels entered Ocracoke Inlet each day. After the Civil War began, trade dwindled after blockade ships were sunk in Oregon Inlet. But it survived as a harbor light and served continuously as a light leading to and away from the Cape Hatteras Light. Ocracoke Island was Blackbeard the Pirate's home, and he lost his head here (literally) during the early 1700s. Legend says that his ghost still haunts the area, searching for his lost head. Ocracoke has now come into the Cape Hatteras National Seashore; the National Park Service is making plans for its care. Ocracoke is reached only by ferry: from the southern end of Hatteras Island, a free of charge state ferry carries cars and passengers to the island in about 30 minutes. From Cedar Island, east of Cape Lookout and Harker's Island, a state ferry also carries cars and passengers to Ocracoke in about two and one-half hours. Check for reservations on both and the fee for the Cedar Island Ferry at Outer Banks Ferry Information or call 1-800-BYFERRY. For more information contact the National Park Service Visitor Center on Ocracoke Island at (252) 928-4531.