Pembroke Creek
Chowan County, NC

The lighthouse at Edenton is one of three screw-pile lighthouses that once guarded navigation on Carolina sounds. The other two were lost at sea.

A screw-pile lighthouse was mounted on pilings literally screwed into the soft substrate, sand or mud. On the rivers and sounds of coastal Carolina, firm ground was rarely found where a lighthouse was needed.

The Roanoke Light replaced a lightship at the mouth of the Roanoke River. The Light was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1941. It remained in place, dark and without purpose, for almost 15 years. In 1955, the three screw-pile lighthouses remaining on Carolina sounds were sold for $10 each to Elijah Tate of Coinjock, a former employee of the Lighthouse Service. Presumably, he had some use for them.

Unfortunately, the barge transporting the Roanoke Marsh Lighthouse capsized and sank. The Wade Point Lighthouse was also lost on Currituck sound in rough weather. Tate cut his losses and sold the remaining Roanoke River Lighthouse to Emmett Wiggins for the same $10 he paid for it.

Wiggins owned a marine salvage business and successfully moved the surviving lighthouse to Edenton. He used a World War II surplus landing craft to float the lighthouse to Edenton, grounding it in the mouth of Filberts Creek, and lived there until his death.

Eventually, it was moved to its current location on the Edenton waterfront. There is a colorful history of the light available online.