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Published: 2022-07-27 20:15:00 Updated: 2022-07-28 12:26:35
Posted July 27, 2022 8:15 p.m. EDT Updated July 28, 2022 12:26 p.m. EDT
By Heather Leah & Maggie Brown, WRAL multiplatform producers
How's this for an adventurous volunteer opportunity?
Volunteers spend days and nights surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, inside North Carolina's most fascinating and beautiful historic sites: The Frying Pan Tower.
Built in 1964, the Frying Pan Tower was originally a light station manned by the Coast Guard that slowly fell into disrepair. It eventually went dark and was abandoned decades ago.
Now, Richard Neal, purchased the tower from the government in 2010, spends his days and nights joyfully repairing and preserving the historic site more than 30 miles in the ocean.
"Come on out and spend a couple days. You will find it's a wonderful place," he said. "It changes your life. It's just a different perspective."
He said that the site is used as both a tourist and educational site.
Volunteers help keep the Frying Pan Tower in good shape, allowing visitors to safely visit the tower for overnight "hotel" stays.
Currently, Neal said he has around five volunteers staying at the site's hotel. He hopes with the help of more volunteers he will be able to install a 24-hour livestream of a view from the Frying Pan Tower to help give others a view of the ocean he believes is so life-changing.
Amazon, who made a video about how they deliver packages to Frying Pan Tower has also taken interest in Neal's work – recently donating $25,000 to help preserve it.
Neal says he typically has between 4 and 8 volunteers who come out Sunday to Friday.
"We all stay for multiple days at a time," he says. "There are 8 bedrooms and a 4 person crew room, plus a couple of bathrooms and a stainless kitchen."
There's even a recreation room with an original pool table from 1964.
After a long day working on the tower, Neal says he feels sore -- but expresses immense joy in being able to provide upkeep for the incredible site.
This week, he says, the crew has an extra adventure ahead.
"The waves are forecast to be high on Friday, and we will probably be stuck here until Sunday and then go back to shore by boat," he says.
Amazon has been helpful in Neal's restoration of the tower. He uses Amazon's delivery services to order equipment for restoration, for supporting wildlife and simply for getting food.
Amazon News even made a video showing how their team delivers supplies to the tower.
As for the $25,000 donation – it's going towards funding marine research with an underwater remote control robot. Students studying marine biology are able to travel to The Frying Pan Tower and explore underwater colonies of fish and reefs.
Neal said he's spent the past three hurricanes at the Frying Pan Tower, and hopes to spend the next major storm at the tower.
He understands the risks involved in doing so, but said the beauty that the swelling ocean brings during a hurricane is worth it.
"Hurricanes are the thing that, you'd never know how beautiful they are, because when you're in them on land, you're worried about things flying on land and hitting you," he said. "That doesn't exist out here. You just have wind and rain."
He said, when there's strong winds and rain, the ocean turns into rolling hills, and the sky turns into a sherbet orange.
"It's a truly unique thing you get to see," he said.
If you'd like to volunteer on the Frying Pan Tower, you can learn more about opportunities on the website.
You can also plan an overnight stay as an Eco-tourist on the Frying Pan Tower.
If you'd rather support the tower from afar, their website also sells merchandise. Supporters can also select FPTower as their charity of choice on Smile.Amazon.com, which will then donate money from their purchases to the Frying Pan Tower.
Copyright 2022 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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