Old Baldy lighthouse on Bald Head Island is a piece of history that draws thousands of people each year. StarNews file photo.
Susan Grantier, program coordinator for the Old Baldy Foundation, said no records or blueprints explain why the top of the Bald Head Island Lighthouse is offset, but she offered a few guesses:
“The tower itself was supposed to be a specific height with walls a certain width, 5 feet thick at the base, for instance,” Grantier said in an email. “Once that was capped, the lantern room was built on top and an access hatch was cut into the capped roof. The placement of this hatch, as well as the need for more structural support from load-bearing walls, made it necessary that the lantern room be placed off to one side, close to the lip. This also gave more space around it for the light keeper to go outside and make repairs, clean the windows, etc. There used to be a metal railing around the light.”
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Date posted: May 10, 2013
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