Several years later, the United States Congress ordered a new lighthouse be built. In 1852, work began on a new and improved structure. The second Bodie Lighthouse was to be representative of a new look in lighthouses. It was shaped like a circular cone, made of earthen bricks made hard in a fire. Its base was built on supporting bars driven into the earth.

The second Bodie Lighthouse was destroyed in the American Civil War. Confederate soldiers from the south wrecked the building to prevent the Union navy of the north from gaining a position to help its ships. The structure was finally rebuilt and completed in 1872. It rises 48 meters in the air.

Today, the Bodie Lighthouse needs several repairs. This is why the building is not open to the public to climb. However, the lighthouse is still recognized by passing ships.

The most northern lighthouse on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is at Currituck Beach. Like the other lighthouses along the coast, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse still serves as an aid to sailors. The lighthouse runs its light signal from sunset to sunrise. The signal is three seconds on, 17 seconds off. The light can be seen as far away as 33 kilometers.

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse remains unpainted to help tell it apart from other lighthouses along the coast. This also gives visitors a strong sense of the one-and-a-half-million bricks used to build the building, which stands 47 meters in the air. The Currituck Beach Lighthouse was completed in 1875. It was the last major brick lighthouse built on the Outer Banks. Visitors are permitted to climb to the top.