![]() In 2010, Neal bought the tower at auction from the U.S. ( America’s women lighthouse keepers are finally being seen.) An eco-adventure like none otherįrying Pan is the only one at least somewhat accessible to the public. Just three remain standing today: Diamond Shoals Light, off the coast of North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras Chesapeake Light, marking the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Frying Pan Tower. Most were first automated, and then decommissioned, left to rust in the dark until they were declared structurally unsound and eventually dismantled. Seven of these so-called “Texas Tower” lighthouses, which look similar to offshore oil rigs, were built during the 20th century at strategic locations along the East Coast. It is an intimidating yet extraordinary place, a rare chance to spend time on-and help save-one of the few structures of its kind left in the world. ![]() Neal is the 62-year-old owner and manager of Frying Pan Tower: a hulking, 80-foot-tall lighthouse 32 miles off the coast of North Carolina that’s now being restored into a high-tech marine conservation outpost and eco-adventure lodge. “I haven’t dropped anyone-yet,” Neal says with a smile, only after he’s gotten the hoist working again a few minutes later and I’ve been safely brought into the tower’s entrance. For a moment I’m stuck in midair, dangling 60 feet above the sea. “Whoops, hang on,” Richard Neal calls out calmly from the tower’s deck. Suddenly, the hoist shudders and comes to a halt. Coast Guard light station where I’ll be staying for the weekend. A wooden plank beneath me lurches like a swing, lifting me upward, off the boat, and far above the water, towards the entrance to an old U.S. “Send him up!” a fisherman says into his radio as I sit precariously on the bow of his boat, bobbing in the cold swells of the Atlantic, more than 30 miles from shore.
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