Oak Island Lighthouse went into service in 1958 near the mouth of the Cape Fear River in southeastern North Carolina. It’s been owned by the Town of Caswell Beach since 2004, and it’s managed by the nonprofit Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse. From 1958 to 1962, Oak Island Lighthouse had the brightest navigational light in the United States. It was the next to last lighthouse constructed in the United States.
In 2014, E. Gifford Stack was honored by the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society with a Fresnel Prism Award for his contributions to lighthouses and their history. He has been a longtime tour guide at the lighthouse and serves as the tour coordinator. He has escorted more than 400 tours to the top of the tower over the past nine years.
He also serves as a board member on the Brunswick Civil War Round Table and volunteers with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office. He is also an avid motorcycle rider.
Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org