The decommissioned Frying Pan Light Station is being privately restored as Frying Pan Tower, open to overnight guests. Frying Pan Shoals off the tip of Cape Fear is well known to off-shore cruisers. For more information and lots of photos, visit the Frying Pan Tower website at http://www.fptower.com/history.html.

The Frying Pan Tower – formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Frying Pan Light Station, is a lighthouse situated at the end of the Frying Pan Shoals, 32 miles south of Bald Head Island N.C.
This is the southernmost end of the feared `Graveyard of the Atlantic’ which stretches up to the northern end of the Outer Banks of N.C. The shallow waters of the shoals (only 35-50 feet under the Tower) made ship navigation treacherous so in 1854 a lightship was stationed there. For 110 years, except for a few years during The War Between the States and WWII, crews manned the lightship 24/7 in all weather.
The mission of the project is to protect and preserve the Frying Pan Tower, originally the USCG Frying Pan Light Station.
The restoration of the Frying Pan Tower is being conducted by volunteers; financed through contributions and the donation of needed supplies. This unique part of American history is being preserved so that generations to come will have an opportunity to enjoy what very few people have experienced: the ever changing, never changing life 85′ above the Atlantic Ocean.
The constant struggle to preserve an old, steel structure sited in the middle of an ocean, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean’s `hurricane alley’, is a labor of love and adventure by individuals who wish to see history preserved and shared. Conditions and materials as well as the forces of Mother Nature make it unlikely that this struggle will ever end. It will be an ongoing project for many years, likely decades, as rust and wind and salt and sun takes its toll on the Tower.
The Tower has stood vigilant since 1964, though the light has not been continuously lit since 1992. Now it is lit when crew members and guests return to enjoy and work, to change Old Glory, and to experience a unique and thrilling stay with the birds, the fish, the turtles, the rays and spectacular sky displays.
There are few places in the world such as the Tower and with your help it will be around for years to come!

And this from WGNO TV:

34-miles offshore, ocean hotel offers solitude
POSTED 11:14 AM, JUNE 23, 2015, BY SMARLBROUGH, UPDATED AT 12:05PM, JUNE 23, 2015

http://wgno.com/2015/06/23/34-miles-offshore-ocean-hotel-offers-solitude/

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Frying Pan Shoals