Climb for free on the first day of our 2024 Season! Join us any time 9am-5pm. Must be 4+ years old to climb (or in BYO carrier with an adult if not). Saturday March 23, 2024 is also a wonderful to buy yourself a season pass so you can climb every one of the other 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.
Entry to the grounds is free during hours of operation. The light station is almost 150 years old; it does not comply with current building codes, structural codes, or safety codes. Admission paid and waiver of liability to be signed in person at tower in order to climb.
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 Coast Guard with a lease agreement; in 2003 through the National Historic Lighthouse House Act the US 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 (the celebration date of its first illumination in 1875). OBC works with with the Department of the Interior/NPS, the State of North Carolina, and the United States Coast Guard to maintain the site and its historic accuracy.
Currituck Beach Lighthouse 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 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/