collection, the Center will house staff offices and an expanded gift shop, freeing up the existing gift shop to be used as additional museum and research library space. “This project truly represents the completion of our master plan,” says island resident and Old Baldy Foundation President Chris Webb. "It will enable us to not only continue to preserve and protect Old Baldy, but also to preserve the other early history of the island." “We want to bring the past to life using today’s technology,” says Mary Beth. “So much of the island’s history can be told through audio recordings and video displays. We want the Center to allow visitors to be transported to the past and immersed in the island’s stories.” The Foundation estimates it will need to raise nearly a million dollars for the campus expansion. Because the Foundation receives no funds from government agencies, including the National Park Service and State Parks, it relies solely on the generosity and continued support of private donors. “We have a running start with our fundraising efforts, thanks to generous contributions from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, Bald Head Island Limited, and the F.M. Kirby Foundation,” says Chris. “We’re now asking our broader base of island property owners and vacationers to step forward to help us reach this goal.” Contributors to the Foundation’s “Bringing Home the Light” fundraiser can know that they have helped achieve
two important objectives. First, donors will dramatically enhance the experience for island visitors—be they vacationers, property owners, or school children traveling from surrounding areas. Secondly, they will ensure that future generations will know the island’s stories. Those stories include the heroic tales of lifesaving serviceman Dunbar Davis, who saved shipwrecked mariners from certain death, and of Captain Charlie Swan, who faithfully served as keeper of the Cape Fear Light for three decades. They include the accounts Confederate soldiers wrote of their days spent at the island’s Fort Holmes, aiding the blockade runners headed upriver to Wilmington, and of river pilots who fiercely competed for the chance to bring ships safely to port. They even include the adventures of “The Generator Society,” the 20 or so families with homes on the island in the 1970s, who had to rely on generators for power, and whose campfire parties at the Cape Fear Point are the stuff of legend. “There will be a loss and disconnect of history if we don’t join together to collect, preserve and share the island’s stories now, while we have the chance,” says Mary Beth. “Old Baldy Lighthouse celebrates its 200th birthday in 2017. What could be a more fitting party than the grand opening of our expanded campus?” To learn more about the Old Baldy Foundation’s fundraising efforts and find out how you can help them complete their master plan, visit www.oldbaldy.org or call 910-457-7481.
The Cape Fear Lighthouse Lens A First Order Fresnel Lens, such as the one installed at the top of the Cape Fear Lighthouse, was designed for coastal locations where the light had to shine far out to sea. The 12,000-pound lens and base measured over 15 feet tall, and contained 528 glass prisms and 24 flash panels mounted with exact precision into brass frames.
In 1902 the magnificent lens began a
circuitous journey from the factory of Henry Lepaute in France to Bald Head Island. It is believed, but not yet confirmed, that the lens was first sent to St. Louis as an exhibit at the World’s Fair. Upon its return to the East Coast, it was installed at the top of the new Cape Fear Light to warn ships about Frying Pan Shoals, sandbars that stretch for almost 30 miles out to sea. The lens remained there, lovingly
Lens Wing
tended by the keepers of the lighthouse, until the light was demolished in 1958.
The story of the lens didn’t end there.
Prior to the lighthouse’s demolition, the lens was taken to an antique shop in Wilmington, N.C., where some of its components were sold over time. In 2009 the Old Baldy Foundation Interpretive Center
Keeper's Cottage
purchased the remaining prisms and panels and brought them back to Bald Head Island. After more than 50 years, the Cape Fear
An octagonal room in the Interpretive Center will house the magnificent First Order Fresnel Lens.
Lighthouse lens has returned home. haven 125