The Tallest Lighthouses In The United States
The Atlantic coast of America is home to some of the tallest light towers in the country, many reaching at least 163 feet. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse located in North Carolina leads the list at 198 feet.
By "tallest," this means the height of the tower itself, from the ground to the top of the structure, as published by its owner or operator, or by the US Coast Guard Historian's Office for towers the Coast Guard owns and no, it doesn't mean the height of the light above sea level. Only surviving towers built as lighthouses are ranked (sorry, Statue of Liberty!), lit or not.
See if your favorite made it onto our list of the tallest lighthouses in the United States.
1. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, North Carolina
The National Park Service, which owns the tower, measures Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at 198.49 feet from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the pinnacle and describes it as the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. The tower was completed in 1870 at Buxton on Hatteras Island to warn ships off Diamond Shoals, a 12-mile sandbar offshore, and its black and white spiral stripes were added in 1873.
In 1999, with the Atlantic eroding the beach in front of it, the entire lighthouse was moved 2,900 feet inland, a process that took 23 days. Its light is automated and still active, and although the 269-step climb to the top is closed to the public as of October 2026, the grounds, part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, remain open.
2. Cape Charles Lighthouse, Virginia
Cape Charles Lighthouse stands 191 feet tall on Smith Island, an uninhabited barrier island at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay in Northampton County, Virginia. Unlike the brick towers on this list, it's an octagonal, pyramidal skeleton structure with eight cast-iron legs braced to a central stair cylinder. First lit on August 15, 1895, it's the third lighthouse to have been added to the cape, after towers completed in 1828 and 1864.
Whether it's still working or not seems to be a matter of debate. According to the Coast Guard history page, it's active, while the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society reports that the lamp failed in 2013 and that the Coast Guard abandoned it in 2019. Either way, as long as it's standing, it'll remain on our list.
3. Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, Florida
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse is a 175-foot brick tower located in the town of Ponce Inlet, south of Daytona Beach in Volusia County, Florida. The height quoted here is the one published by the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, the nonprofit that runs the light station as a museum.
The tower was constructed in 1887, and the Lighthouse Directory, a database of the world's lighthouses, lists it as active. Visitors can climb the 203 steps to the gallery, an expenditure of energy that's well worth it for the views.
4. Absecon Lighthouse, New Jersey
Located in Atlantic City, Absecon Lighthouse is, at 171 feet, New Jersey's tallest lighthouse. The third tallest masonry lighthouse in the United States, it was completed by Lieutenant George Meade, the Army engineer who later commanded Union forces at Gettysburg. The tower was first lit on January 15, 1857, and decommissioned on July 11, 1933.
The lighthouse's original first-order Fresnel lens, the largest size of the prism lenses used in American lighthouses, was made in Paris specifically for this tower. It's still in place and is lit every evening. The tower is open to visitors, and the climb to the watch room is only 228 steps.
5. Barnegat Lighthouse, New Jersey
Despite the other published heights for New Jersey's other entrant on this list, the Barnegat Lighthouse is conflicting. Known locally as Old Barney, it earns its the fifth spot on this list purely for the strength of the US Coast Guard Historian's Office figure of 170 feet.
The Borough of Barnegat Light pegs it at 172 feet, but with figures as low as 163 feet also in circulation, we've taken the historians at their word.
The tower stands at the northern tip of Long Beach Island in Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, on the south side of Barnegat Inlet. First lit on January 1, 1859, it was eventually discontinued in 1944, and the tower now belongs to the State of New Jersey.
On January 1, 2009, 150 years to the day after the first lighting, the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park relit it with a new beacon visible for 22 nautical miles. The climb to the top is 217 steps.
6. Fire Island Lighthouse, New York
The National Park Service, which owns Fire Island Lighthouse, has its height logged as 168 feet, a figure that's matched by the Coast Guard Historian's Office. Located within the Fire Island National Seashore on the south shore of Long Island, the tower was first lit on November 1, 1858, and received its black and white bands in August 1891.
Decommissioned on December 31, 1973, it was relit on May 25, 1986. The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society runs tours up its 182 steps, and it is reachable via a 0.75-mile-long boardwalk from Robert Moses State Park.
7. St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida
St. Augustine Lighthouse on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine, Florida, stands 165 feet from the ground. That's the figure used by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, the nonprofit that operates it, so we're going to stick with it.
Construction began in 1872 using a design by Paul Pelz, an architect better known for the Library of Congress building in Washington. It was lit for the first time on October 15, 1874. The museum notes that the tower is 95 feet taller than the one it replaced.
Its black and white spiral bands and red lantern make it easy to tell apart from other towers by day, and it still functions as a navigation aid for ships offshore. There are 219 steps to the top, and the gallery deck is 140 feet above the ground.
8 (Tied). Cape Lookout Lighthouse, North Carolina, and New Cape Henry Lighthouse, Virginia
Two towers tie for eighth place at 163 feet: Cape Lookout Lighthouse on South Core Banks, part of Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina, and New Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia Beach.
Accessible only by boat, Cape Lookout's tower was completed and lit on November 1, 1859, and painted with its distinctive black and white diamond pattern in 1873. The light was automated in 1950. A $15.2 million stabilization project began in 2025, with the top sections removed for refurbishment. The Keeper's Quarters grounds are open for visitors during the work.
New Cape Henry is notable as the tallest cast-iron-plate lighthouse in the country. Its octagonal tower, built of bolted cast-iron plates on a granite foundation, was first lit on December 15, 1881, using a Fresnel lens made in Paris. It's still functioning as an active aid to navigation. Though its tower is closed to the public, the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, completed in 1792 and just 350 feet away, is open for climbs.
The Towers That Almost Made It
Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla, North Carolina, falls just one foot short of this list at 162 feet. Bodie Island Lighthouse, also on the Outer Banks, stands 156 feet tall and was first lit on October 1, 1872.
And sure, taller structures have shown navigation lights, but they really aren't classified as lighthouses, as they weren't built specifically for the purpose of helping vessels navigate. Notable among them are Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, a column at Put-In-Bay, Ohio, that rises 352 feet above Lake Erie.
America's Tallest Lighthouses
All nine of the lighthouses ranked here are situated on the low Atlantic shore between Long Island and central Florida, and all were first lit between 1857 and 1895. According to the US Lighthouse Society, tall towers were built on flat land where offshore shoals required a light to be seen 14 to 16 nautical miles out. With no cliff to stand on, the height had to come from brick and iron and these nine prove just how important this service they provided was and, in some cases, still is.
