FIVE FACTS

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

by katrina mae leuzinger

THOUGH THE TERM WASN’T POPULARIZED UNTIL THE 1950S, the waters off the coast of the Outer Banks have long earned their “Graveyard of the Atlantic” moniker. Strong currents and shifting sands have conspired to bring a watery end to an estimated 2,000 ships here since the 1700s – but our local lighthouses have undoubtedly helped keep more vessels from joining that grim roster. Chief among these towering sentinels is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which boasts a fi rst-order Fresnel lens and an impressive 269 stairs within its nearly 200-foot-tall frame – making it not only the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States, but also a functional navigational aid that continues to shine its guiding light more than 200 years since its inception.

1Try and Try Again

It can be hard to transport goods to your brand-new nation when your ships keep sinking, so Congress ordered the construction of the fi rst Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in 1794. It was completed and lit in 1803, and the complaints began almost immediately. At just 90 feet tall, the tower was too short for ships to see its whaleoil-powered signal, and its sandstone exterior had a tendency to blend into its surroundings. Even after adding another 60 feet to its height and painting it red and white, there were still structural issues galore, so the newly established Lighthouse Board fi nally ordered an entirely new tower. The lighthouse we’re familiar with today (with its distinctive black and white spiral stripes) was lit in 1870 – and the 1803 light was unceremoniously demolished about a year later.

2Home Sweet Home

During the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal gave birth to government projects like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided groups of young, unmarried men with work improving public lands – and on the Outer Banks, one such need was building up protective sand dunes around the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to mitigate erosion. The double keepers’ cottage and principal keeper’s cottage served as a barracks for part of local CCC Company 436, who spent their days planting 1,500 acres of beach grass and constructing 63,000 feet of fencing. They were paid $30 a month, $25 of which was sent directly home to their families, and when they weren’t working, they attended classes in typing, radio and forestry – and cut loose during Monday night socials called “smokers.”

3Like a Rolling Stone

Early on, the lighthouse was a comfortable 1,400 feet from the shoreline, but it wasn’t long before the structure began to be plagued by erosion issues – a problem the CCC workers had been well acquainted with – which even caused the light to be decommissioned and replaced by a skeleton steel tower from 1935 to 1950. With varying degrees of success and setbacks over the next few decades, the lighthouse was only 50 feet from the shoreline by 1980, and the diffi cult decision was fi nally made to move it – a historic event which took place in 1999. The 4,830-ton structure was painstakingly lifted with hydraulic jacks and eff ectively rolled 2,900 feet inland over the course of 23 days, allowing it to resume its navigational duties a mere fi ve months later.

4Deep Run Roots

The lighthouse was set atop a new foundation during its move, but it was decided that the cracked remnants of the old base were a fi tting memorial to the other foundation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: the generations of servicemen who had once kept the station’s lantern lit. With generous fi nancial help from the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, the names of all 83 principal and assistant lighthouse keepers at Cape Hatteras were engraved onto those granite blocks. Unfortunately, the memorial was also in danger of succumbing to erosion not long thereafter. Though they’d been covered in sand and shifted around by storms, the stones were unearthed, polished and relocated to the new Cape Hatteras Lighthouse grounds, where they continue to serve as seats for a small Keepers of the Light Amphitheater.

5Expecting the Unexpected

Like any historical building, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse isn’t immune to needs for periodic restoration – and the most ambitious restoration eff ort to date on this 151-year-old landmark began in 2021. Though currently ongoing and expected to take several years to complete, workers reached a milestone this past summer when they stripped roughly seven layers of paint and other substances from the inside of the lighthouse in full hazmat suits. Once the bare red bricks were visible, more issues became clear as well – including a six-story crack from an 1890 lightning strike and missing mortar between some bricks. The top-notch team of experts involved in this project always expected to encounter the unexpected, however, and are using this opportunity to study and plan for the lighthouse’s preservation well into the future.