Summersville Lighthouse

Mount Nebo, West Virginia, United States

Buildings and structures

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Summersville Lake Lighthouse is a 104-foot steel tower at Summersville Lake Retreat near Mount Nebo, West Virginia, raised in October 2012 from a damaged wind-turbine tower section. Visitors can climb 122 steps to a gallery deck above Summersville Lake and the Gauley River National Recreation Area.

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Summersville Lighthouse

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38.19959° N, 80.86451° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

West Virginia has no coastline, yet it has a lighthouse, and it began as a joke.

According to the retreat, in 2009 a guest who was helping erect wind towers at the Beech Ridge wind farm in neighboring Greenbrier County was teased that if he diverted a tower section their way, they would disguise it as a lighthouse. Heavy rain had recently undermined the supports of one delivered section, which rolled about 75 feet down a hillside and was no longer suitable for wind power. West Virginia Tourism says the damaged section was repurposed for the lighthouse.

The tower was erected at Summersville Lake Retreat in October 2012. The retreat describes it as 104 feet tall, with a top elevation of 2,164 feet above sea level, made of half-inch steel and weighing 77,000 pounds; it tapers from 12 feet across at the base to 8 feet at the top. West Virginia Living in 2026 gives the tower's weight as 72,000 pounds. West Virginia Tourism says students and instructors at Fayette Institute of Technology and Nicholas County Career & Technical Center helped build the lamp room, widow's walk and spiral staircase, and that more than 2,000 people attended the dedication on June 20, 2013, West Virginia's 150th birthday.

The beacon's origin is told two ways: West Virginia Tourism says a vintage Westinghouse beacon came from Rader Airfield, while West Virginia Living says a 1941 General Electric beacon was found in a warehouse at Summersville Airport. West Virginia Living says the lighthouse is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as a navigational aid; West Virginia Explorer calls it a folly that is not a historically functioning lighthouse.

Visitors climb 122 steps to a 360-degree gallery deck over the lake and Gauley River National Recreation Area, on tours that run in daytime, at sunset and by moonlight in season.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Guided climbs of 122 steps to a 360-degree gallery deck, on the grounds of Summersville Lake Retreat. West Virginia Living (2026) lists daily tours April to October, weather permitting. The retreat's site listed $7 adults and $5 children and seniors in late 2025; sunset tours cost extra.

ACCESS

Summersville Lake Retreat, near Mount Nebo, West Virginia (278 Summersville Lake Road per West Virginia Tourism). It is a private, operator-run attraction: tours daily April to October, by reservation November to March, weather permitting. Phone 304-872-5975.

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