Long Shoal, NC 
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Long Shoal is a broad, shallow sandbar system in the northern portion of North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound, roughly nine miles south of Stumpy Point. Lying along the boundary of Dare and Hyde counties, the shoal has long posed a hazard to navigation. Stretching across a region where sound waters are often deceptively shallow, Long Shoal has trapped countless sailing vessels, fishing boats, barges, and powered craft. To safeguard mariners traversing Pamlico Sound, the federal government established one of North Carolina’s earliest light stations at this location, first as a lightship and later as a screw-pile lighthouse.
Congress appropriated $10,000 on May 26, 1824 for a light at Long Shoal. Because the shoal lay far from land in shallow water, construction of a conventional lighthouse was impractical. Instead, a lightship was placed on station in 1825. For decades, the vessel served as a floating lighthouse, warning mariners away from the dangerous shoals. Maintaining a lightship in the exposed waters of Pamlico Sound was costly and difficult, however, and Congress appropriated another $10,000 on March 3, 1837 for a replacement vessel.
The station entered the political spotlight in 1853 when a North Carolina newspaper alleged that President Franklin Pierce’s administration had appointed a “mulatto” as keeper of the Long Shoal light-vessel. The accusation sparked outraged editorials across several Southern newspapers. The controversy proved entirely unfounded. Later that year the newspaper that originated the claim published a retraction, acknowledging that Captain Robert Rollinson, a respected citizen and magistrate of Hyde County, had actually been appointed keeper and that reports concerning a mixed-race appointee were false.
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By the 1850s, many of the light-vessels serving North Carolina waters had become worn and expensive to maintain. In 1854 the Long Shoal light-vessel was withdrawn from station for repairs. The vessel returned to service later that year with a new Costan lamp, one of the lighting improvements then being introduced throughout the Lighthouse Establishment. Despite these upgrades, the Lighthouse Board increasingly viewed lightships as inefficient. In its annual reports, the Board repeatedly noted that many North Carolina light-vessel stations occupied relatively sheltered waters where permanent structures could be erected at lower long-term cost.
In 1857 the Board specifically identified Long Shoal as one of several stations suitable for replacement by screw-pile lighthouses. Iron screw-pile foundations, developed for soft-bottom locations, could be securely anchored into the muddy floor of Pamlico Sound and withstand conditions that would challenge traditional masonry structures. Borings were conducted in 1859 to evaluate potential lighthouse sites, and by 1860 work had begun on screw-pile replacements for the light-vessels at Croatan and Long Shoal.
The outbreak of the Civil War delayed these plans. Confederate forces removed or destroyed nearly all of the lightships serving North Carolina waters, including those at Long Shoal. Temporary lights were later established to mark the station, but the original light-vessel was gone. Following the war, the Lighthouse Board seized the opportunity to implement a long-desired modernization program. Rather than constructing new lightships, it erected permanent screw-pile structures at many former light-vessel stations.
A new screw-pile lighthouse was completed at Long Shoal in the spring of 1867. According to contemporary newspaper accounts, the structure stood in nine and a half feet of water on the highest part of the shoal, approximately two and one-quarter miles northwest of the former light-vessel station. The iron foundation was painted red while the superstructure was painted white. A fourth-order Fresnel lens displayed a fixed white light from a focal plane thirty-five feet above mean tide that could be seen for approximately ten miles in clear weather.
The light was first exhibited on the night of May 31, 1867. The old light-vessel, deemed unworthy of further repair, was taken to New Bern, stripped of useful equipment, and sold at public auction for $380. Long Shoal became one of eight former light-vessel stations replaced by screw-pile lighthouses during this ambitious postwar rebuilding effort.
John Best, the first head keeper and previous captain of the Long Shoal Lightship, was paid an annual salary of $500, while William Hooper, his assistant, earned $400. John Best died in September 1867, and Hooper was promoted to head keeper.
Routine maintenance occupied the station during its early decades. The iron foundation required regular painting to combat rust, and repairs were periodically made to the lantern, dwelling, boats, and fog-signal equipment. In November 1873, Assistant Keeper Marcus L. Lewis suffered a serious accident while hoisting a boat. A block gave way, causing him to fall roughly ten feet and sustain injuries described as nearly breaking his back.
Additional repairs were carried out during the 1880s and 1890s. New boat hoisters were installed in 1883, and the fog-bell machinery was repaired. In 1891 the station buildings were overhauled and placed in good condition, and in 1899 modern fourth-order lamps were installed.
The most significant chapter in Long Shoal’s history is closely associated with Keeper Thomas H. Baum, who served longer than any other keeper at the station. Born in Nags Head on October 16, 1877, Baum was the son of Summers and Mary Ann Baum. After marrying Little Miller in 1900, Baum entered the Lighthouse Service the following year as an assistant keeper at Tangier Sound Lighthouse in Virginia. Later that same year he transferred to Long Shoal Lighthouse, beginning an association with the station that would span much of his career.
Baum served at Long Shoal until 1903, spent two years at Croatan Lighthouse, and then served at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In 1905 he returned to Long Shoal as head keeper. During the next twenty-two years, he became one of the best-known lighthouse keepers in Pamlico Sound.
Long Shoal’s location ensured that Baum and his assistants were frequently called upon to aid mariners in distress. In August 1914, Baum assisted Herbert Leary and George Wood after their sloop grounded near Long Shoal Point. Earlier that summer, Assistant Keeper John T. Twiford had aided the disabled power boat Robena. In January 1915, Baum and Twiford assisted the schooner Hamlet after it stranded on Long Shoal.
Baum’s record of service continued throughout the decade. In 1917 he helped repair the disabled power boat E. R. Daniels and, later that year, assisted the disabled steamer Velma Brook. The Lighthouse Service commended Baum in 1918 for maintaining the station’s light and fog signal during five days and nights of hazardous ice conditions. Assistant Keeper Lloyd V. Gaskill was also recognized for his efforts to reach the isolated station and assist Baum during the emergency.
Additional rescues followed. In August 1920 Assistant Keeper James B. Cox towed the disabled naval seaplane NC-2 to the lighthouse and provided food and lodging for its occupants until the lighthouse tender Juniper arrived. Two years later Baum aided the oyster boat Augusta C. Quinn after it grounded on Long Shoal Point.
Baum’s most dramatic service occurred on Christmas Eve 1920. During a storm, a string of twelve to fifteen barges became entangled around the lighthouse, causing violent vibrations throughout the structure. Fearing the station might be destroyed, Baum descended into the darkness and discovered that the barges were connected by a heavy wire cable wrapped around the foundation.
Recalling the incident later, Baum stated:
I knew that something had to be done, and that quick, or the lighthouse would soon be torn up. When I descended, I found that the barges were connected with a heavy wire cable. I got an ax and managed to cut the cable, and by hard labor and perseverance for quite a while I got the barges on the weather side freed. It was the worst job I ever tackled in the night, but I believe I saved this house from serious damage, if not wreck, for just after this it blew hard.
His actions freed the barges before they could inflict serious damage on the station. The Secretary of Commerce formally commended Baum, noting that considerable damage might have resulted had he not acted so quickly and decisively.
In 1927 Baum transferred to Croatan Lighthouse, where he completed his lighthouse career. He retired on June 30, 1935, after more than thirty-four years of service. Baum died at the Marine Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, in February 1938. His long tenure at Long Shoal and his numerous rescues exemplified the dedication expected of lighthouse keepers stationed in isolated and hazardous locations.
The station entered a new era shortly after Baum’s departure. On February 17, 1931, Long Shoal Light was automated. The characteristic was changed to a flashing white light every five seconds, and the fog bell was discontinued. Automation eliminated the need for resident keepers, and by 1935 the screw-pile dwelling had been removed. In its place stood a skeletal tower displaying the automated light.
Although the picturesque screw-pile lighthouse disappeared, Long Shoal remains an important navigational landmark in Pamlico Sound. For more than a century, first as a lightship and later as a lighthouse, the station guided mariners through one of North Carolina’s most treacherous shallow-water regions. The service of Thomas H. Baum and the many keepers who maintained the light stands as a testament to the vital role these isolated stations played in protecting life and commerce along the North Carolina coast.
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