On the same day as the Coinage Act of 1792, a less-known bill, titled “An Act for finishing the Lighthouse on Baldhead at the mouth of Cape Fear River in the State of North Carolina,” was passed.
That’s definitely a long title, but at least it was more transparent than the names of acts and bills today. It was also a lot more helpful for the newly formed country and state of North Carolina than many we see today.
This act by the Second Congress was to appropriate $4,000 towards the completion of a lighthouse at Bald Head Island (in 1792, it was often referred to as Baldhead), situated at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. This act marked one of the first federal investments in maritime infrastructure, and it happened right here in North Carolina.
In the founding of the United States, the Cape Fear River served as a critical artery of maritime activities including commerce and military pursuits. This river served as a lifeline for the early nation and the state of North Carolina.
Such trade along Cape Fear included rice, tobacco, lumber, and later gold. It was also an important river and region for longleaf pine, which was necessary for building and repairing ships for trade and the Navy. These longleaf pine trees provided crucial lumber for shipbuilding and tar for naval stores, which are resin-based products like turpentine, pitch, and rosin.
However, a major difficulty with the river negatively impacted safe navigation. As anyone who studied the American Revolution or Blackbeard the pirate knows, Cape Fear was treacherous.
Dangerous shoals, ever-shifting sandbars, and sudden squalls earned the region a grim reputation among sailors. Shipwrecks were common. The area around Frying Pan Shoals, just off the coast of the Outer Banks, became notoriously known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”
Without reliable navigational aids, commercial and naval traffic remained extremely risky.
The construction of the original Bald Head Island lighthouse by colonists began as early as 1783, but there were many difficulties arising that prevented its completion and overall stability.
This is noted in a letter from Tench Coxe to Alexander Hamilton in 1792, about three years after North Carolina became a state. Interestingly, both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson played a role in establishing the Bald Head Lighthouse.
With a few changes to the architecture of the early lighthouse, funded by the $4,000 through this act of Congress, the Bald Head Lighthouse was completed in 1794. This lighthouse shed light onto the dangerous waters as it was perched at the river’s mouth.
Bald Head Lighthouse was a vital addition to North Carolina’s economic prospects, and it reflected a federal commitment to making Cape Fear a secure, dependable artery of commerce for the young state and the fledgling nation.
This, of course, does not suggest that the free market could not have come up with a solution without government intervention, but it does demonstrate a more focused approach to the practical application of government funding in the newly established country.
A lighthouse in this location helped ships safely navigate into the Cape Fear River, eventually securing Wilmington’s rise as a commercial hub and strengthening North Carolina’s maritime infrastructure at a crucial moment in the nation’s formation.
Safe navigation through Cape Fear enabled the transportation of many goods and services, and the essential movement of gold from the mines of the Piedmont to the Atlantic seaboard. The original Bald Head Lighthouse, and subsequent lighthouses, played a quiet role in safeguarding the transportation of constitutional sound money to the country at large.
Although the original Bald Head Lighthouse only stood until 1813 and came to an end due to severe shoreline erosion, it was replaced by the still-standing “Old Baldy” in 1817. Old Baldy remains the oldest standing lighthouse in North Carolina, which is now a tourable museum.
North Carolina’s Bald Head Lighthouse served as a beacon for commerce and safe passage in tumultuous waters. It also provided a haven for the transportation of sound money, which inadvertently enabled North Carolina to be the home of the first gold rush and a guidepost state for trade.
Today, North Carolina and the United States face new rough water in the free flow of commerce with the imposition of tariffs. Such paternalistic and interventionist economic policies are akin to adding more sandbars and rocks into the river as a means of deterring the perceived enemy at the cost of everyone else.
The only direct beneficiaries of such anti-capitalist policies are government departments, unions, large corporations, and the like. And, even they will eventually suffer the consequences of such actions. All the while, every other small business, consumer, and taxpayer must tread water leading to grounding, capsizing, or sinking.
Instead of making the proverbial river more difficult to navigate for everyone, we should be shining an enlightening light of knowledge, truth, and liberty to make the waters of commerce easier and safer to traverse. Let Old Baldy serve as a symbol of how North Carolina can shine brightly as a beacon for commerce and sound money.