The Lighthouse Pathway

The Lighthouse Pathway is a 1.5-mile point-to-point multi-use route, one way, from the N.C. 12 and Lighthouse Road intersection in Buxton to the Cape Hatteras Light Station and Old Lighthouse Beach. Its value is practical: this wide paved link lets you reach the seashore’s best-known stop on foot or by bike without using Lighthouse Road’s travel lane. It works well as a low-effort way to stretch your legs or link town and coast. Walking back makes the outing about three miles.

The route is a broad, 10-to-12-foot concrete path. It follows Lighthouse Road, so the setting feels more like a parkway walk than a secluded woodland hike, and traffic stays nearby. The mapped profile is nearly level; distance and stops matter more than climbing. Allow 30 to 45 minutes one way at an easy walking pace, longer if you pause at the signs or visit the light station.

Interpretive panels along the pathway explain the lighthouse’s move to its current site in 1999, local ecology, and the area’s watersports. At the far end, Old Lighthouse Beach occupies the lighthouse’s former site, so a stop on the sand gives the walk a bit of history as well as a view of the tower. This is a useful connector to those destinations; the payoff is at the end, not a string of separate viewpoints along the way.

The Buxton end is at N.C. 12 and Lighthouse Road. The Cape Hatteras Light Station parking lot is the practical access at the other end; walk toward the village and back if you don’t have a ride. Pedestrians and cyclists share the wide path. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than six feet.