Oak Island-Lighthouse Park, Caswell Beach (S15A)

Oak Island Lighthouse offers free tours to the balcony at the top of the lighthouse year round but visitors must provide at least 2 weeks notice. Access to the second level is available without notice every Wednesday and Saturday from Memorial Day - Labor Day, during this time full climbs are not available. The lighthouse was built in 1958 and stands 153 feet tall. There is 131 ships ladder steps inside. The lighthouse was once the brightest in the US and second brightest in the world.

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COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on July 12th, 2022. Swim Guide - Main updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on July 14th, 2022 at 10:32 AM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

31°C

Mostly clear

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The NC Department of Environmental Quality – Division of Marine Fisheries- Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality samples for Enterococci in Marine only sites.

Tier 1 sites (daily use) are sampled weekly from April to October

Tier 2 sites (non-daily)are sampled twice a month from April to October

All tier sites are sampled once a month November to March.

A site is marked Green when the geometric mean of the site is below 35 units of enterococci per 100 ml of water and/or a single sample of that site is below 104 units of enterococci per 100 ml of water.

A site is marked Red when the geometric mean of the site exceeds 35 units of enterococci per 100 ml of water and/or a single sample of that site exceeds 104 units of enterococci per 100 ml of water.

Results are made public by a press release, and a map of areas listed under advisory. They can be found on the agency webpage.

Swimming Advisories are issued through social media (Twitter); signs posted on-site; phone calls made to local public health agencies and town officials; press releases sent via email to press, interested parties (the public can sign up to receive notifications here), public health agencies, and local officials.

The public can get in touch by this email erin.bryan-millush@ncdenr.gov

Water Quality Graph