All the lights were built in and , with the exception of the lightship, which was established in , and Upper Jettee, which ended up receiving range lights in Price's Creek Lighthouse circa Photograph courtesy State Archives of North Carolina Constructed entirely of brick, the walls of the twenty-foot-high Price's Creek front range tower taper from three feet thick at the base to two feet thick at the top, while the diameter of the circular tower shrinks from seventeen feet to nine feet.
The tower's sister light, located around to feet away, also served as the keeper's quarters. It was a larger, square, brick structure with a lantern room on top and had an overall height of thirty-five feet.
Both lights in the range were originally fitted with eight lamps and eight fourteen-inch reflectors, but these were replaced in by sixth-order Fresnel lenses that produced a fixed white light. Although the first person appointed as keeper was Samuel C. Mabson, for some reason he never took up the post, and John Bell worked as the first keeper. In , the lighthouse inspector noted that introducing a Fresnel lens in each tower, powered by a single lamp, resulted in the saving of gallons of oil each year, which amounted to nearly enough to pay the salary of the keeper.
The glory days of Price's Creek Range Lights occurred during the early part of the Civil War, when they served to guide daring Confederate blockade runners past Union ships stationed offshore. Hanson Ruark was serving as keeper of the range lights at the outbreak of the Civil War, and his daughter, Mary Catherine Ruark, later recalled climbing to the top of the lighthouse as a child and watching both the first and second battles for Fort Fisher.
The Union eventually gained complete control of the coast, forcing the Confederates to retreat inland. Rather than let the lighthouses remain for the enemy, Confederate soldiers dismantled or destroyed as many lights as they could. The lighthouses along the Cape Fear River never recovered from the war. Perhaps because of the crippled Southern economy, they were deemed unnecessary and never rebuilt.
In , the Lighthouse Board proposed constructing new towers at Price's Creek and refurbishing the old dwelling , but this work was apparently never carried out. Robert M. Ruark, son of Keeper Hanson Ruark, was visiting the lighthouse in when the stairs gave way, and he plummeted to the bottom of the tower. Robert died about thirty minutes later as a result of a piece of timber that struck near his heart.
The lantern room is gone, the windows are missing, and the land is privately owned by the Archer Daniels Midland ADM Corporation, which operates a citric acid plant along the banks of the river. In , Colonel J. TripAdvisor traveler rating. See more on TripAdvisor ». Plan your trip to Southport Get a personalized trip A complete day by day itinerary based on your preferences. Start planning. Boat Tour. Historic Site. Antique Store. Specialty Museum. Art Gallery. Eco Tour.
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