The Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the largest single attraction in Currituck County, opens for the season Monday.

Built in 1875, the 162-foot tall lighthouse attracts about 100,000 people annually and helps fuel the Currituck Outer Banks tourism industry.

A tourism study done last year showed the lighthouse is the most-visited attraction in Currituck County.

Of the seven major lighthouses along the state's coast, four remain open for climbing, including the Currituck beacon, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Oak Island Lighthouse and the Old Baldy Lighthouse at Bald Head Island, said Bett Padgett, president of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society. The Cape Lookout Lighthouse will be closed this year because of structural problems, she said.

The beacon and museum shop will be open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thanksgiving. Lighthouse hours will be extended on Thursdays to 8 p.m. in June, July and August. Admission is $7 a person for those ages 8 and up. Youths 7 and younger are admitted free.

Lighthouses along the North Carolina coast have a distinct exterior and a flash pattern called the nighttime signature. From dusk until dawn, Currituck's light flashes every 20 seconds, three seconds on and 17 seconds off. During the day, the red brick exterior of the lighthouse stands out from the black and white patterns on other North Carolina lighthouses.

Currituck's first-order Fresnel lens is the original lens installed in 1875. The Fresnel lens works like a magnifying glass to concentrate the light beam into a bull's-eye that projects about 18 miles offshore.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com