You Know You Want to See Inside!
You can go in, but not up, as the lighthouse isn’t considered safe for climbing. But even standing inside the 4-foor thick walls and looking up at the spiral is an unparalleled experience for lighthouse buffs and fans of Ocracoke. It's also the island's best-kept-secret photo-op!
Lou Ann loves to tells stories about the lighthouse. She welcomes visitors inside and answers their questions about when it was built, how much it cost, and how it’s maintained. She loves to point out the marks on the brick walls that show where the original staircase was, and to explain how the keepers had to carry the lamp oil to the top, which is, she reports a scary place to be. (Yes, the NPS volunteers get to climb up – if they dare – and I suppose they all do because it’s one of the perks of the job.) Another perk: on hot summer days, it’s always cooler inside the lighthouse.
This is Lou Ann’s tenth summer on Ocracoke and her fifth summer of volunteering in the lighthouse. She sees between 150-300 people each day that she opens, which is pretty impressive considering the limited parking. Over the years, she has collected stories about the keepers that cared for the old sentinel, the ships it provided safe passage to, the storms it shone through, and the Civil War battles it witnessed.
Last summer, Lou Ann waited out a thunderstorm inside the lighthouse.
“It was getting really dark outside, and I was on my bike, so I closed the door and stayed,” she said. “I could see lightning out the windows, and I sat in the dark and sang songs. It was magical.”
She loves the echoes inside the brick walls and encourages her visitors to break out their instruments and fill the space with music.
But mostly she likes them to ask questions, so she can satisfy their curiosity about Ocracoke’s favorite landmark.
“Every child asks how many steps there are,” Lou Ann said
Are you wondering, too? Stop by and find out!
Lou Ann will be there from 1 – 3pm on July 16 and 17, 23 and 24, and 30 and 31. She also volunteers at Ocracoke Preservation Society, tells stories in the Ocrafolk Opry, takes people on Ghost and History Walks, and writes for the Ocracoke Current! In August, she has to head back to Angola, Indiana where she is an English teacher at Trine University.
