Being completed in 1958, the Oak Island Lighthouse, completed in 1958, is one of the newest lighthouses in the United States. It is made from concrete and stands 169 feet tall. It replaced the Cape Fear Lighthouse, a steel skeleton lighthouse near Cape Fear on Bald Head Island. The lighthouse marks the mouth of the Cape Fear River with the second most powerful beacon in the world, only surpassed by a French lighthouse along the English Channel. It can be seen for 19 miles, which is needed to help ships avoid the dangerous Frying Pan Shoals.