Ocracoke Light, a historic lighthouse on Ocracoke Island on North Carolina's Outer Banks, was built in 1823 by Massachusetts builder Noah Porter. The lighthouse stands 75 feet tall. Its diameter narrows from 25 feet at the base to 12 feet at its peak. In 1864 during the U.S. Civil War, Confederate troops dismantled the fourth-order Fresnel Lens, but Union forces later restored it. Ocracoke Light is the oldest operating light station in North Carolina. The lighthouse was automated in 1955.