Adventures of Boreas: Day 306 – visit to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Bodie Island Lighthouse

We had a great trip to Cape Hatteras today. The drive was unexpected. We thought we would see more of the ocean and more homes all along the route. The homes we saw were concentrated in a few towns along the way (with lots of National Park land in between). The highway along the Outer Banks is quite far inland – we assume this is so it sustains less damage when hurricanes hit this area and so that it is not as much in the path of the shifting sand dunes. There were some areas along our route where damage from last year’s Hurricane Irene was evident.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was open for climbing, so we paid our money and started up the 248 spiral steps leading to the top. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country, standing 208 feet tall. The Lighthouse has an interesting history due to the shifting sands around Cape Hatteras. The lighthouse we climbed is actually the second of three lighthouses built at this site. The first was built in 1803 and demolished in 1871 after the current lighthouse was built in 1870. Beach erosion threatened the base of the Lighthouse by 1935, prompting the construction of a third lighthouse some distance away. Fifteen years later the 1870 lighthouse was again put back in operation, as erosion patterns changed. In 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved a half mile inland, to save it from the encroaching Atlantic. The Lighthouse was cut from its original base, hydraulically lifted onto steel beams and traveled along railroad tracks to its present position over the course of 23 days. The Lighthouse is now as far from the ocean as when originally constructed in 1870. It was very windy at the top of the lighthouse, but the climb was worth it and the views were spectacular.

On the way back to Manteo we stopped at the Bodie Island Lighthouse, another lighthouse helping mariners safely make their way along the coast from Cape Hatteras to Currituck Beach. The lighthouse was built in 1872 using some of the leftover materials from the construction of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Unfortunately the lighthouse isn’t open for climbing.

Miles: 0 Bridges: 0 Locks: 0

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

the view out one of the windows as we climb the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

the spiral stairs inside the Lighthouse

looking toward Cape Hatteras (we're almost at the top)

from the top of the Lighthouse looking down the route
it took in 1999 when it was moved away from the beach -
the original location was near the cars in the furthest parking
lot you can see in this picture

the view from the top of the Lighthouse looking toward Cape Hatteras

this drawing shows how the point at Cape Hatteras moves -
the blue line is 1872 and the pink line is 1980 - you can see
how close to the beach the Lighthouse was in 1980