From the Feb. 4, 2021, Chowan (N.C.) Herald "Week in NC history" by the NC Department of Cultural Resources.
LONG ROUTE TO ROANOKE RIVER LIGHTHOUSE
On February 5, 1832, Elizabeth City councilman William Shepard petitioned the House of Representatives for a light station to help guide sailors to safety by the mouth of the Roanoke River.
Two years later, Congress appropriated $10,000 for a lightship to operate in the Albemarle Sound. The ship operated through the Civil War, but was replaced by a screw-pile lighthouse that operated on whale oil in 1867. The structure, in turn, was damaged by fire and later ice in the 1880s.
A larger lighthouse, the one that now stands, was authorized in 1886 and finished by 1887. It was fitted with a Fresnel lens and continued to operate until 1941, when it was decommissioned by the Coast Guard.
This 1886 lighthouse changed hands twice in the 1950s, sold for $10 each time. Edenton businessman Emmett Wiggins moved it to land he owned in Chowan County in 1955 and lived in it until he died .
In 2007, the Edenton Historical Commission purchased the lighthouse and restored it in cooperation with the state of North Carolina. The restored lighthouse opened to the public as part of the Historic Edenton State Historic Site in 2012.
--Cooter
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