The Oak Island Lighthouse is located on property that has been in use as a US Coast Guard station since the 1930s, and prior to that it was a US Lifesaving Station. The current Coast Guard station was recently reconstructed after a fire completely destroyed the ten-year-old building in 2002. The new station house is built over the footprint of the lost station, and closely resembles the older station.
In 2004 the lighthouse and the surrounding property were deeded to the Town of Caswell Beach along with adjacent beachfront property as part of the Federal Land to Parks program. The Oak Island Lighthouse is owned by the Town of Caswell Beach, however, all governance, tours, and maintenance activity are run by Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse (FOIL) a 501c(3) Tax Exempt organization that the town created. The Coast Guard has retained responsibility for the upkeep of the lights (since they are still an active aid to navigation).
During the summer of 2006, the FOIL began assembling volunteers and providing visitors the opportunity to tour the tower. You can find the Friends of Oak Island Lighthouse webpage here for tour schedules, lighthouse history, photo galleries and more. If you have any questions, please feel free to email them at oakislandlighthouse [at] gmail.com (oakislandlighthouse@gmail.com).