Bald Head Postcard

Bald Head Lighthouse, known as Old Baldy, is the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina. Old Baldy was completed in 1817, to replace an older lighthouse that was wearing out. Bids were taken by the US Treasury Department for a 90-foot lighthouse with a lantern. Standing 110 feet high and containing 108 steps, it served as an active lighthouse until 1935 and as a radio beacon until 1958. It was used mostly to guide ships through the perilous Frying Pan Shoals. After the construction of the Oak Island Lighthouse in 1958, "Old Baldy" was decommissioned. It still stands as a symbol of Bald Head Island and is open to the public.