Meghan Agresto is the site
manager of the Currituck
Beach Lighthouse
5 On the Beach
Sharon Meade is the curator
of the Outer Banks Center
for Wildlife Education
Currituck Beach
Lighthouse
The beam from Currituck Beach Lighthouse
stretches 21 miles, but not as bright as the smile
Site Manager Meghan Agresto flashes when she
starts talking about
this 162-foot, redbrick
beacon that’s
stood since 1875 to
protect mariners
from this section
of ocean called the
“Graveyard of the
Atlantic.”
“This was the last,
tall, brick lighthouse
built on the North
Carolina coast. This
tower and dwelling
are still preserved
(and) may be the best
example of an 1870s
light station you’ll find these days. The sense of
place here is unique and exceptionally authentic.”
Call Agresto a Renaissance woman as her work
encompasses all aspects of the lighthouse from
researching its past to
enlightening guests who
view the site. Calling her
the lightkeeper is tempting,
because it would be easy to
imagine her carrying fuel
up the 220 steps, trimming
the four-inch-wide wicks,
and living in the keepers’
home, a duplex that housed 24 people in 1880.
Agresto loves it when visitors want details: the
lighthouse is one of only nine still standing in the
U.S. with an operational, first-order Fresnel lens;
a million bricks were used in its construction.
Agresto promises, “We have a history, we have a
story, and I want you to know it because it’s an
interesting one.”
A small fee is charged to climb the lighthouse. Open daily
from Easter to Thanksgiving (closed Thanksgiving Day).
1101 Corolla Village Rd. • Corolla, NC 27927
252-453-4939 • www.currituckbeachlight.com
Outer Banks
Center for
Wildlife
Education
The Outer Banks Center for
Wildlife Education offers
educational programs and has
models of hunting and fishing
boats, a duck blind, a milliondollar
decoy collection and what
many visitors especially like —
what’s waiting outside.
“We like to call it the best
backyard around,” Curator, Sharon
Meade, says of the historic boat
basin with an 80-foot dock plus
950-foot boardwalk available for
free center activities. “The view
over the sound is amazing, and
you just never know what you’re
going to see... raccoon, fox, snakes,
these are things we can show you.”
The Center sits between the
ocean and the Currituck Sound,
water that helped put this area on
the map for waterfowl hunting at
the turn of the 20th century.
Meade knows the area’s
history: “Currituck County has
been a tourist destination for
quite some time. People came here
for the waterfowl. It was known,
literally, the world over.”
“We were a phenomenon in
terms of the migratory path of
birds. We honor that (hunting and
fishing) culture. We can help you
explore it, because we go from
history to right outside making
some of our own: crabbing off
the dock, teaching how to fish,
exploring our maritime side
down on the ocean. We try to
offer a well-rounded bounty of
what we have available here.”
1160 Village Ln. • Corolla, NC 27927
Admission is free • 252-453-0221
www.ncwildlife.org/obx
/www.currituckbeachlight.com
/obx