Currituck Lighthouse

I've been a bit lax on my posts this week. I had forgotten how hectic it is to get back in your regular schedule after a week of vacation. In my case, it's been even worse due to the fact that I lost my kick-butt assistant this week and am having to start all over with a new girl, who I am sure will be great but there is always a learning curve. Add to this the fact that Jonathan has been under the weather for a few days (which culminated in a back seat vomit coating this morning while I attempted to take him to buy new shoes) and I just have not had time to sit at the computer. However, as the kiddo is currently enthralled by the Curious George rocket ship video, I now have an opportunity to blog a bit more about vacation.

As I've already posted, we stayed in Corolla this year. From the deck of our beach house, you could see the Currituck Lighthouse. In fact, it was close enough that you could walk to it and take a tour. This is the first lighthouse I have ever seen in person and it looked pretty cool even from afar. Before I get into the pictures, though, here is a brief history lesson:

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse, also known simply as the Currituck Lighthouse, is located in the community of Corolla on Whalehead Hill, 40 miles equidistant from Oregon Inlet and Cape Henry, Virginia. When this lighthouse was illuminated for the first time on December 1, 1875, it completed the chain of lights along the North Carolina coast by filling in a previously dark 80-mile gap. One of the three lighthouses modeled after the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse has never been painted in order to distinguish it by daylight from Bodie, Lookout, and Hatteras Lighthouses. The red brick, 158 foot structure sits in a wooded area on sandy land. An underground structure of heavy timbers supports the tower in the sandy terrain and an interior steel staircase strengthens the building. The entrance to the lighthouse has served as a work area for the lightkeeper and as storage for whale oil to light the lamps.

Bryan, who is not too pleased with heights, to put it nicely, kindly agreed to visit the lighthouse with me. It really is an impressive structure and the grounds are beautifully maintained.





The fee to climb was a mere $7.00, all of which benefited the restoration fund for the lighthouse. It was pretty warm outside and there were some people in the lighthouse who apparently thought soap and deodorant were optional, but, overall, the climb was not nearly as bad as I would have thought:





The view from the top was nothing short of amazing! When I first stepped out on the observation deck, it took my breath, but I adjusted in a short period of time.



Bryan was even comfortable enough to pose for this self portrait:



Jonathan missed out on this experience, partially due to the fact that we went due to his nap time but mostly due to the fact that the Cragos went before we did and said that the railings at the top were far enough apart that a toddler could slip though. Maybe next year!