25th ANNUAL KEEPERS' WEEKEND

   -- OCTOBER 4 & 5, 2019 -- Visits to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the Whalehead Mansion, Wild Horse
      Sanctuary,  and Wild Horse Tours

        by John Havel

About 35 Outer Banks Lighthouse Society members from across the U.S. showed up at our annual Keepers' Weekend in Corolla, North Carolina, the site of the 1875 Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Most members stayed at the Hampton Inn in Corolla which had set aside rooms at a reduced rate for Society members, and many gathered there on Friday afternoon before the activities started.

Just before 2:00 pm on Friday, members broke off into two groups, one headed for Wild Horse Adventure Tours to see the famous Corolla wild horses that roam the beaches and surf in the "comfort" of open-air safari jeeps, and a second group that drove inland to  Grandy, North Carolina to tour the Betsy Dowdy Equine Center, a sanctuary for sick and injured wild horses. Both groups reported very educational and exciting excursions.

On Saturday morning members arrived at the lighthouse and were met by site manager and lighthouse keeper Meghan Agresto, a good friend to the Society. Meghan gave a wonderful talk and history lesson of the northern Outer Banks and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, after which the group broke into two again, one group to climb the tower while the second group toured the Keepers' Quarters. After an hour the groups switched. Lunch from the Lighthouse Deli in Corolla was served at the picnic tables in Heritage Park just south of the lighthouse with a beautiful lake surrounded by the Whalehead Mansion property as well as the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education. Society members were free to wander the grounds and visit these attractions before heading back to the Hampton Inn Suites for our annual dinner and awards ceremony beginning at 6:00 pm that evening.