Old Lighthouse Beach Access

Located near the village of Buxton in North Carolina, Old Lighthouse Beach – also known as Lighthouse Beach and Old Lighthouse Beach Access – is a beach with light brown sand and a wooden breakwater.  This beach is a part of a Federally-protected national seashore named Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  In addition, this beach is also a favorite of Randall Kaplan, who is also known as Mr. Beach.

Old Lighthouse Beach has lifeguards between Memorial Day and Labour Day.  However, this beach does not have any other amenities except some restrooms and picnic tables, so please plan accordingly.

Dogs are not allowed at Old Lighthouse Beach.

Old Lighthouse Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, swimming, picnicking, surfing, skimboarding, kitesurfing, paddleboarding, windsurfing, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, snorkeling, boating, jet-skiing, wakeboarding, surf-skiing, kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife watching.

This beach is popular with surfers because the water here occasionally offers fun surfing waves – the rocky jetties at Old Lighthouse Beach are particularly popular surfing sites.  If you are planning to swim, surf, kayak, or paddleboard here, we recommend being careful because the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents and dangerous waves.  If you like beachcombing, this beach is popular with beachcombers because you can find many kinds of shells here – the best sites for beachcombing here are around the breakwaters.

Old Lighthouse Beach is ideal for visitors looking for a quieter beach experience because this beach has fewer visitors as compared to other Buxton beaches in winters (usually between October and April).

There is a beach wheelchair for use by visitors with disabilities – this beach wheelchair is located at the nearby Cape Hatteras Light Station.  If you want to use the beach wheelchair at Old Lighthouse Beach, you can visit the “Accessibility” section of Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s webpage on the National Park Service website for more information on the wheelchair reservation procedure.

Getting to Old Lighthouse Beach is easy – this beach is easily accessible from North Carolina Highway 12 through a road named Lighthouse Road.  There are multiple free parking lots near the beach.

Old Lighthouse Beach was the original location of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse – this lighthouse was relocated from this beach to a nearby inland site in 1999 because of coastal erosion.  A circle of granite stones is located around the beach and this circle marks the original site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

There are many attractions near Old Lighthouse Beach within a 25-minute drive.  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse – also called Cape Hatteras Light – is a historic 208-feet tall lighthouse that offers amazing views of the Hatteras Island shoreline.  There is also a small museum and a gift shop near Cape Hatteras Lighthouse – another famous lighthouse near Old Lighthouse Beach that you can explore is the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.  Frisco Native American Museum has a collection of interesting Native American antiques and it also has interesting exhibitions on the history and art of the Native American peoples of the United States – this museum also has exhibitions on natural history, along with nearby nature trails.  Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum offers interesting information on a nearby aquatic area named Graveyard of the Atlantic that is home to many shipwrecks.  In addition, it also has interesting exhibitions on local maritime history, along with interesting naval artifacts and it also has a gift shop.  Avon Fishing Pier is a seasonally open wooden fishing pier that is a significantly popular fishing site - one of the most famous fishes that you can find here is the red drum fish.  If you are looking for another attraction near the beach, Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum is set in a United States Life-Saving Service facility that was built in 1874 – this museum offers interesting information about the United States Life-Saving Service and its successor organization, the United States Coast Guard. 

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Old Lighthouse Beach.  Diamond Shoals Restaurant is the only restaurant on Hatteras Island that has a sushi bar – this seasonally open restaurant also offers many other excellent dishes including seafood, hush puppies, slider sandwiches, and fried chicken.  Cafe Pamlico is an upscale restaurant in Buxton Outer Banks of North Carolina that offers many gourmet dishes for breakfast, lunch, and brunch including Southern-style dishes, soups, salads, pastas, and burritos.  Oceana’s Bistro – also called Oceanas Bistro – serves a variety of delicious dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner including seafood, sandwiches, quesadillas, waffles, chicken dishes, steaks, and ribs.  Cockeyed Clam is a popular restaurant near Lighthouse Beach North Carolina that is known for serving amazing seasonal seafood dishes including crab cakes and scallops.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, Buxton Munch serves many excellent dishes including crab cakes, quesadillas, tacos, wraps, burgers, and sandwiches.

If you are looking for a hotel near Old Lighthouse Beach, there are many great moderately-priced options nearby.  The 3.5-Star The Inn on Pamlico offers many amenities including a library, a movie theater, a restaurant, a pool, loaner facility for bikes and watersports equipment, outdoor sitting areas, a boat dock, and complimentary breakfast.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Lighthouse View Oceanfront Lodging that offers many amenities including a pool, a spa, barbecues areas, pool chairs, and an ice machine.  Another moderately priced hotel is the 2.5-Star Sea Gull Motel that offers many amenities including a pool, a picnic area with a gazebo, and barbecues.  The 2.5-Star Outer Banks Motel is another moderately priced hotel that offers many amenities including a hot tub, a saltwater pool, a library, and a fish cleaning station.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 2-Star Cape Hatteras Motel offers many amenities including a seasonal pool, a hot tub, and a library.