Choosing a frying pan can feel oddly personal, and navigating the overwhelming variety of options can be a daunting task.

Looming 136 feet above the shoals is Frying Pan Tower, built in 1964 by the U.S. Coast Guard as a light station after the nautical agency retired its lightship fleet, which had been anchored here ...

The Frying Pan Lightship blows a final whistle as it hands off its duty as the light of Frying Pan Shoals to Frying Pan Tower on Nov. 24, 1964. [PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. ROBERT M. FALES COLLECTION ...

And in the ocean off the Brunswick County community of Southport, guests can spend a weekend in a decommissioned light tower that once kept ships from running aground in Frying Pan Shoals.

Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower has hit the big time. As in Time Magazine. Seemingly once fated to a slow and rusty demise at the mercy of the elements, the former Coast Guard installation about 25 ...

The tower marks the start of Frying Pan Shoals, a skillet-shaped stretch of ... I find Neal putting together a red-and-white beacon light that will shine atop the tower for the first time since ...

Below, the ocean churns violently. The tower was built in 1964 to help ships avoid the Frying Pan Shoals, a shallow area that was known for shipwrecks. For years, about 20 Coast Guard cadets lived ...

The camera is on an old Coast Guard light tower, located 32 miles off ... to warn ships of the shallow waters, called the Frying Pan Shoals, nearby. The lighthouse is only accessible by boat ...