By Aida and John Havel
On May 18, 2023, the National Park Service hosted a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the building of the Ocracoke Lighthouse.
Ocracoke is the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina and among the top three oldest in our nation. An estimated 500 people gathered to join in the celebration.
Park Service administrators, local historian Philip Howard, Outer Banks Lighthouse Society president Bett Padgett, and Coast Guard representatives all participated in the joyous occasion.
Documents and research clearly indicated that the lighthouse was built in 1823, so there was no doubt that a celebration was called for. However, during planning meetings leading up to the celebration, discussions included the fact that no one had ever discovered when the lighthouse was actually completed and lit.
As someone remarked during the discussions, “it can’t be called a lighthouse until there’s a light!”
Park Service historians and other interpretive staff searched their files, books, and the internet for a definitive date of the lighting. The Ocracoke Preservation Society did not know. The island historian Philip Howard, who had discovered numerous amazing island facts, could not find the elusive date, and independent researchers such as the authors of this article—and others—also searched and came up empty handed.
Ocracoke Island’s Dale Mutro, who works at the Anchorage Inn front desk, conducted his own research And found original documents showing that the lighthouse was first lit on Aug. 15, 1824.
Not only did he find all the missing pieces, he also linked them together in a way that is absolute and indisputable. That is not easy when trying to piece together a 200-year-old mystery.
Mutro’s research was reviewed by Philip Howard in March 2023. Howard subsequently updated his May 20, 2018, online newsletter article on the history of the lighthouse on villagecraftsmen.com and credited Mutro for the new information in his footnotes at the end of the article. And the Park Service has accepted Mutro’s research and now includes the date of August 15, 1824, on their nps.gov website.
For details of the story, click here.
Aida and John Havel are on the board of directors of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society.
