A beacon reborn

On this North Carolina island best known for a 16th-century colony that mysteriously vanished, a lost lighthouse lives on in replica. The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse is a reconstruction of a screw-pile light that stood from 1877 to 1955 in the middle of Croatan Sound, several miles from here on Roanoke Island's opposite side. After its decommissioning, a failed attempt at moving the light sent it sinking to the bottom of the sound. Completed by history-conscious locals in 2004, the reconstructed light now houses a free museum and features a Fresnel lens similar to the original beacon's.