Fortifying the legacy of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

BUXTON, N.C. (WAVY) — One of the most popular lighthouses in the world, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was first lit in 1870 and serves as a beacon for mariners while serving as a cultural icon for the Outer Banks.

After being picked up and moved away from an eroding coastline, it is now being fortified once again.

It is often the first part of Cape Hatteras visitors see when heading down NC 12. Visitors had a very different vantage point when it was first built many decades ago.

“In those days, in the 19th century, the oceans were the highways,” said Jamie Lanier, a park historian with Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The lighthouse is known well for its towering black and white spiral.

“Protecting mariners by guiding them with their day marks, how they were painted and by their night lights,” Lanier said.

Now it is wrapped with scaffolding, as workers from the Massachusetts based Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services are hard at work, ensuring this piece of history can be enjoyed for generations to come.

This restoration is one of many changes brought to the monument.

After construction finished in 1870, keepers spent many decades tending to the needs of mariners through calm and stormy waters. In 1935, it was turned over to the National Park Service. It still serves as a landmark to those at sea even as technology advances — and as the sea advances.

The lighthouse endured an engineering feat in 1999, when, to keep the monument from suffering the consequences of erosion, crews picked it up and moved the structure about 1,500 feet inland.

“So what they did was they separated the tower, lighthouse tower from the foundation, and lifted it up onto rollers and basically rolled the lighthouse over, kind of like a conveyor belt,” Lanier said. “Very slow process. It took 29 days.”

It was a sight that amazed the minds of spectators, old and young. When WAVY-TV 10 was there, one child told our team, “I wonder what those expert house movers are going to move next. What, a pyramid?”

“I think it represents the Cape Hatteras National Seashore,” said Deputy Superintendent Robin Snyder with the Cape Hatteras Seashore. “I think the lighthouse itself as an emblem to this park.”

Twenty-five years after the big move, the more-than-150-year-old structure is undergoing a $19.2 million restoration. They are stripping the paint down, repairing the masonry, metalwork, and even replicating the lens. Travelers still come in droves to see the scaffolding-covered beacon.

The entryway is being moved to a different part of the park. Visitors will walk through trees before the lighthouse is “revealed” to them after a certain point along the path. At least five native plants are going in as part of the new landscaping in front of the lighthouse.

They are also adding a new pathway with the 36 Keeper’s Stones alongside. Each stone gives credit to the hardworking keepers who kept its light shining since the late 1800s.

“Well, I’m glad to see that they were refurbishing it and making it good for the future of our generations to come,” said tourist Brenda Elam of Nashville.

Said Justin Elam: “Without these artifacts that we have here, such as the Lake Keeper’s house, the old house, and the lighthouse itself, you’re just not going to feel like you were like keeper.”

They are targeting completion by summer 2025. So far, the team is on schedule.

These are the native plants now in front of the lighthouse, planted as part of Phase 1 according to the National Park Service: Spartina patens (saltmeadow cordgrass), Uniola paniculata (sea oats), Panicum anarum (bitter switchgrass), Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod), and Gaillardia pulchella (firewheel) .

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