Currituck Beach Lighthouse

The last major brick lighthouse built on the Outer Banks, Currituck Beach Light went into service on December 1, 1875, filling a 40-mile stretch of dark coastline where ships continued to be lost in the shoals between two existing lights. It was left unpainted — the only one of its kind on this coast — so mariners could tell it apart. One million bricks, 220 steps, a first-order Fresnel lens still burning every night at 158 feet. The Outer Banks Conservationists have owned it outright since 2003.