Join us for the Currituck Beach Lighthouse’s Opening Day for free on Saturday, March 21 and climb free of charge between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Children must be four years or older to climb.

Opening Day is the perfect time to purchase a season pass, so you can visit every one of the 252 days of the season we’re open – only $50/person-$120/family for the season.

Enjoy the beautiful grounds, the 220 steps to the top, the panoramic view of the northern Outer Banks, a unique elliptical brick path, and the smaller Keeper’s dwelling – a Victorian Stick-style dwelling now open as a museum shop. Learn from docents, brochures, exhibits, and artifacts about the lives of lighthouse keepers, the history of the tower, the original 1st order Fresnel lens (still working nightly) and shipwrecks. Self-guided and self-paced. A season pass also grants access to the Lighthouse’s sister site in Manteo: Island Farm.

Entry to the grounds is always free during hours of operation. The light station is 150 years old and it does not comply with current building codes, structural codes, or safety codes.

A public, active aid to navigation, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse was built in 1875 to fill the last remaining “dark space” on the East coast. The non-profit Outer Banks Conservationists, Inc. (OBC) was founded in 1980 to save the Currituck Beach Light Station’s Keepers’ house which had fallen into disrepair after the oil-carrying lighthouse keepers were released from their duties in 1937 (due to automation). In 1990 OBC received the keys to the tower from the United States Coast Guard with a lease agreement; in 2003 through the National Historic Lighthouse House Preservation Act the U.S. Department of Interior transferred the deed of the tower to OBC, which opens the light station to the public from mid-March through December 1^st. OBC works with the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, the State of North Carolina, and the United States Coast Guard to maintain the site and its historic accuracy.

The lighthouse’s beacon is still an active aid to navigation. The night marker – since 1933 when the beacon was electrified – is a 3 second-on, 17 second-off interval; the tower’s unpainted red brick (yes, it was was always unpainted) continues to serve as the day marker for mariners.

Dogs on leashes welcome. Drones and their pilots must stay outside fence line.

All other days: $13/person (card or cash) to climb.

Season passes available for purchase both in person and online: https://obcinc.org/season-passes/