Thirty-four miles off the coast of Bald Head Island, the Frying Pan Tower stands as a sentinel for the Carolinas as Hurricane Florence approaches the coast.

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The Frying Pan Tower – formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Frying Pan Light Station, is a lighthouse situated at the end of the Frying Pan Shoals, 34 miles south of Bald Head Island N.C.

The shallow waters of the shoals (only 35-50 feet under the Tower) made ship navigation treacherous so in 1854 a lightship was stationed there. For 110 years, except for a few years during The War Between the States and WWII, crews manned the lightship 24/7 in all weather.

In 1960 construction began on a permanent steel structure with a lantern house to replace the lightship. The structure was a modified Texas drilling platform, called a “Texas Tower” designed to provide housing and support for the light, warning ships of the shallow waters.

The Coast Guard decommissioned the station in 2004, sitting abandoned until 2010 where Richard Neal, a software engineer from Mint Hill, NC purchased the tower and currently runs the station as a bed and breakfast.

• For further information view the operators website: www.fptower.com
• Live feed weather permitting and viewable during daylight hours.