Wade Point, NC 
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Wade Point Lighthouse marked the entrance to the Pasquotank River from Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, for nearly a century. The station stood on the end of a shoal extending from Wade Point on the western side of the river’s entrance, southeast of Elizabeth City. Its light guided vessels entering or leaving the Pasquotank and helped mariners negotiate the shallow waters of the sound.
The location was particularly important because the Pasquotank River formed part of an inland water route connecting Albemarle Sound with the Chesapeake Bay. The Dismal Swamp Canal, completed in 1805 after twelve years of hand excavation, connected the Pasquotank River at South Mills with the Elizabeth River in Virginia, providing a protected route between the two waterways. The twenty-two-mile canal was one of the earliest major artificial waterways in the country and was used to transport agricultural products, timber, and other goods between northeastern North Carolina and the Chesapeake region.
Wade Point was therefore more than simply a local navigational hazard. Its light marked the entrance to an important inland transportation system, and its keepers occupied an isolated station where maintaining the light could sometimes require considerable courage.
The first aid to navigation at Wade Point was a lightship. Congress authorized $5,500 for the vessel on March 3, 1825. By the fall of 1826, Scott & Francis Fickett of New York had completed the new light vessel. A newspaper reported on November 4 that the vessel had been delivered to the collector and would be stationed “at or near the south end of Roanoke Island, or at the end of Wade’s Point Shoal, at the mouth of Pasquotank River.”
The lightship was eventually positioned on Wade’s Point Shoal on the west side of the entrance to the Pasquotank River. Its single lamp, equipped with nine cylindrical wicks, was displayed thirty-nine feet above the water. The vessel originally displaced forty-one tons, but it was rebuilt in 1845 and increased to seventy-six tons.
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The lightship served the station for nearly three decades. In 1854, however, Congress appropriated $10,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at Wade’s Point. The following year the light vessel was removed and condemned, and a screw-pile lighthouse was planned as its replacement. In the meantime, a temporary light was displayed from the station.
On January 1, 1856, Superintendent L. D. Starke announced that the temporary stake-light at the mouth of the Pasquotank River had been moved to the site of the new lighthouse, which was then under construction near the former lightship station.
The new screw-pile lighthouse was completed in 1856. Built on the extremity of the shoal extending eastward from Wade’s Point, the structure was painted white and topped by a red lantern. Its fixed light was thirty-and-a-half feet above the water and could normally be seen from eight to ten nautical miles. The new light was first exhibited on June 20, 1856.
Edmund T. Sawyer was appointed the station’s first head keeper in 1856, at an annual salary of $400. Noah Jones served as his assistant, earning $300. Sawyer would have only a brief tenure at Wade Point, but his story became one of the most poignant episodes in the history of the station.
During the winter of 1856–57, eastern North Carolina experienced a severe storm and bitter weather. At some point during the storm in January 1857, Sawyer disappeared from the lighthouse.
His fate was uncertain for several months. On February 17, a newspaper reported that no word had been received from him and that all hope of finding him alive had been abandoned. There was speculation that he might have attempted to walk to shore across the ice, fallen through, and drowned. Another possibility was that he had reached shore but became lost in the deep snow of the surrounding swamp.
Whatever had happened, the community understood that Sawyer’s family had been left in desperate circumstances. He had five young children, only one of whom was old enough to support himself. The newspaper appealed to the public to assist the children, describing Sawyer as a respected man who had died while performing his duties.
The mystery was finally solved in April. On April 21, the newspaper reported that Sawyer’s body had washed ashore on the Camden County side of the Pasquotank River, nearly opposite the lighthouse. The body was badly decomposed, but papers found on him established his identity. His remains were taken to Elizabeth City and then transported to Camden for burial.
The newspaper’s tribute to Sawyer was unusually warm. It described him as a man of “sterling worth,” incorruptible integrity, unquestionable truthfulness, and sound judgment. Although he had occupied a relatively humble position, the writer argued that his character deserved recognition and that his death was widely mourned.
Sawyer’s death illustrates the dangers faced by lighthouse keepers even at stations that were not exposed directly to the ocean. The keeper of Wade Point lived on an isolated structure surrounded by shallow water, exposed to winter storms and ice, while the nearest shore could be difficult or impossible to reach during severe weather.
The lighthouse continued to serve mariners until the Civil War disrupted navigation throughout North Carolina. In 1862, the Lighthouse Board began efforts to reestablish several North Carolina lights that had been extinguished during the conflict, including Wade Point.
The Union military considered the lighthouse’s equipment important enough to send a special expedition to recover it. On the night of May 12, 1862, a party under Lieutenant Flusser went ashore several miles above Elizabeth City and recovered the Wade Point lighthouse apparatus. The equipment was transported to a Union vessel using teams impressed from the surrounding countryside.
The lighthouse was subsequently re-established with William Gard serving as principal keeper. The station was restored, and the light was exhibited again in February 1863.
The restoration, however, proved short-lived. In April 1863, Union forces evacuated the area. Gard was away at Roanoke Island when his assistant was advised by the fleet to leave the station. Gard returned to find the lighthouse deserted. He removed as much of the equipment and supplies as he could and carried them to Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse for safekeeping.
The lighthouse was soon placed back in service, but the danger had not passed.
On August 3, 1863, a large guerrilla force approached the station. Gard later reported that he saw approximately six large sailboats loaded with men coming toward the lighthouse. He estimated that fifty or sixty armed men were involved and said they had two pieces of artillery. Unable to defend the station, Gard fled. The guerrillas pursued him for several miles before returning to the lighthouse and setting it on fire.
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Gard managed to save the Fresnel lens and several other items, but the bell, oil, stove, chimneys, tinware, putty, boat falls, and other equipment were lost. He reported the destruction to Captain Charles Flusser at Plymouth.
The destruction was officially reported by the Lighthouse Board on August 18, 1863. The station was not rebuilt immediately. In 1864, officials reported that the light remained out because the danger of another attack had not yet been eliminated. By 1867, however, conditions had improved sufficiently for the station to be restored once again.
The rebuilt lighthouse was placed back in service on February 6, 1867. It displayed a fixed white light from a fourth-order Fresnel lens thirty-five feet above the water. The structure consisted of a screw-pile foundation supporting a white wooden dwelling with a lantern on top.
The Lighthouse Service carried out numerous improvements during the following decades. In 1868, the iron foundation was painted, the lantern was repainted, the landing platform was raised two feet, and new boat falls were installed. The following year the ironwork, house, roof, lantern deck, and balustrade were again painted.
The station’s exposed location made maintenance a continuing challenge. In January 1879, moving ice damaged the foundation by breaking the lugs that held the lower ends of three tension braces. Repairs required considerable ingenuity. The damaged braces were removed and taken to New Bern, where new threads were cut. Because the broken lugs could not be repaired, sections of heavy iron chain were wrapped around the supporting piles and connected to the braces with wrought-iron clevises. A diver performed part of the work beneath the water.
In 1883, a machinery-operated fog bell was installed. During foggy weather, the bell struck two blows in rapid succession every 20 seconds. New boat hoisters were also installed, and other repairs were made.
By the late 1890s, however, the lighthouse itself was deteriorating. The 1898 annual report noted that the 1856 structure was showing signs of weakness and decay and that plans were being prepared for a complete rebuilding. Borings were made to determine the character of the foundation, plans were prepared, and contracts were awarded.
The replacement lighthouse was constructed in an unusual manner. Contractor W. R. Taylor of Norfolk erected the wooden superstructure at the Lighthouse Service’s depot at Lazaretto, Maryland before taking it apart and transporting it to Wade Point. Meanwhile, the metal components for the new foundation were prepared.
Construction at the station began in November 1898. The pile foundation was in place by January 7, 1899, and the framework of the new superstructure was raised a week later. The exterior was completed in February, and the entire lighthouse, including painting, was finished on March 14—one week ahead of schedule.
The new lighthouse was a two-story square wooden dwelling with a gable roof, resting on a five-pile foundation. Cast-iron sleeve columns fitted over wooden piles, while beams, struts, and tie rods provided additional support. An iron lantern with a copper roof stood above the dwelling.
The new structure stood approximately forty feet south of the old lighthouse. The focal plane was thirty-nine feet above mean high water, and the light was visible for approximately eleven-and-a-half miles in clear weather.
The new light was exhibited for the first time on April 17, 1899. The old lighthouse was then dismantled and removed, although its original pile foundation was left in place. The old lens was in poor condition and was retained for possible use elsewhere after repairs. The fog bell and striking machinery, boat hoisters, supplies, furniture, and other equipment were transferred to the new lighthouse.
The isolated nature of Wade Point continued to make the keeper’s job demanding. The lighthouse was not simply a place where a lamp was lit each evening. Keepers had to maintain the structure, operate boats, service fog equipment, obtain supplies, and respond when mariners were in trouble.
In 1928, Assistant Keeper Joseph F. Mercer described Wade Point as an “isolated station.” Keepers were required to remain at the station around the clock and also visit a number of minor lights. Supplies and the post office were approximately fifteen miles away, while trips to other lights could involve round trips of twenty-five, thirty, or even fifty miles.
One particularly memorable rescue occurred in 1933. Leroy Reuis, a twenty-three-year-old New Yorker traveling from New York to Sarasota, Florida, had been making the journey by canoe. Near Elizabeth City, his canoe broke away from shore and drifted approximately twelve miles before coming to rest in the North River.
After trying unsuccessfully to recover his canoe, Reuis attempted to make his way toward Wade Point Lighthouse. At one point he entered the water with his small dog on his back and struggled against the wind and tide. He eventually found himself adrift on a log.
At approximately 10:15 a.m. on August 11, Assistant Keeper Charles P. Morgan spotted the exhausted man about three-quarters of a mile from the station. Captain David E. Quidley, the keeper, launched a motorboat and went to his rescue. Reuis had been in the water for approximately four and a half hours and had not eaten for twenty-four hours. The keepers brought him aboard, gave him food, and provided assistance before locating his canoe approximately ten miles up the North River.
Reuis was too exhausted to continue his journey by canoe. Captain Quidley therefore took him to Elizabeth City, where he arranged transportation by bus. After beginning his journey from New York in a canoe, Reuis ultimately continued toward Sarasota by a considerably more conventional form of transportation.
Three years later, the station’s keepers again came to the aid of people in distress. On August 23, 1936, M. S. Mitchell and three companions were boating near Wade Point when their boat capsized about a quarter mile southeast of the lighthouse. A strong southwest wind made it difficult for the men to make themselves heard.
Shortly after daybreak, First Assistant Keeper Clarence M. Etheridge saw the men and went to their rescue. He brought them aboard the lighthouse, where they were given dry clothing and food. Etheridge and Second Assistant Don D. Midgette later helped recover their boat and towed it back to Old Trap.
The rescued men subsequently wrote to the Superintendent of Lighthouses to express their gratitude, saying that the actions of Etheridge and Midgette reflected credit on the Lighthouse Service.
Wade Point continued operating through the middle of the twentieth century. The station endured another serious encounter with ice during the winter of 1917–18. In January 1918, heavy ice piled against one side of the lighthouse and pushed the entire structure northwest. All five cast-iron columns fractured just above their lower sockets.
Remarkably, the lighthouse dwelling itself suffered almost no damage. The house remained practically level and plumb, and officials reported that not even a door was jammed or a pane of glass broken.
Two possible solutions were considered: rebuilding the entire foundation or transferring the dwelling to a concrete-filled caisson. Both proposals proved too expensive. Instead, engineers devised an ingenious method of repairing the existing columns in place.
In August 1919, workers arrived at the station and used jacks to support the structure while the broken portions of the columns were repaired. The fractures were filled using a patented cast-iron process. The repairs were completed on September 5, only about three weeks after work began. Subsequently, approximately 600 tons of riprap were placed around the station to provide additional protection and stability.
Wade Point remained an isolated station even in the twentieth century. In 1942, Keeper Stephen B. Tillett complained that First Assistant Clarence M. Etheridge was no longer capable of safely operating a motorboat and described him as unsuitable for an offshore station responsible for several minor lights. Etheridge was examined at a hospital later that year and was retired for disability in April 1943.
Julian H. Austin became the station’s head keeper in 1943 and remained there until his retirement for disability on December 31, 1950. Austin had accumulated more than thirty-two years of Lighthouse Service experience. In January 1951, he received the Albert Gallatin Award, the Treasury Department’s highest career service honor, recognizing at least twenty years of faithful service.
The fog bell was discontinued in early 1951, apparently at about the time the station was automated.
Wade Point Lighthouse’s long career finally ended in 1955. The Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse and sold it to Elijah Tate, a well-known purchaser of obsolete screw-pile lighthouses, for a nominal price. Tate had acquired two other North Carolina screw-pile lighthouses and hoped to move the structures ashore. His attempt to save Wade Point Lighthouse, however, failed. The lighthouse slipped from the barge during a storm and fell into the Pasquotank River.
The lighthouse itself was lost, but its supporting piles remain visible at the mouth of the river, marking the site where the station stood for nearly a century. The story of the lighthouse also survives in an unusual way at the Camden Heritage Museum. Willard Forbes, grandson of longtime assistant keeper Joseph F. Mercer, built a model of Wade Point Lighthouse from lumber salvaged from the destroyed structure and donated it to the museum.
From the first lightship in 1826 to the final lighthouse, which was lost in the Pasquotank River in 1955, Wade Point served as a sentinel at one of North Carolina’s important inland waterways. Its keepers endured winter storms, shifting ice, isolation, wartime destruction, and the hazards of working over open water. Edmund T. Sawyer lost his life while serving at the station, while later keepers and assistants repeatedly risked themselves to rescue people in distress. The lighthouse was rebuilt after war and decay, repaired after devastating ice damage, and ultimately lost only after the Coast Guard had ended its service. Today, the surviving piles and the model at the Camden Heritage Museum are reminders of the lighthouse that once guided vessels safely into the Pasquotank River and toward the inland waters of North Carolina.
