Hatteras is the ‘tall guy’ among the N.C. lighthouses

Standing an impressive 208 feet tall, the massive Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at Buxton, N.C., is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States…and the second tallest brick lighthouse in the world, about 5 feet shorter than one in Poland that overlooks the Baltic Sea.

That’s the official word from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

 

Construction of a lighthouse at Cape Hatteras was first authorized in 1794 when the U.S. Congress recognized the dangers posed by the Diamond Shoals to ships traveling up and down the Atlantic Ocean coastline. However, construction did not begin until 1799. 

The original lighthouse was lit in October 1803. Made of sandstone, it was 90 feet tall with a lamp powered by whale oil. Sadly, it proved to be largely ineffective – it was too short, the unpainted sandstone blended in with the background and the signal was not strong enough to reach mariners. 

It took half a century, but in 1853, the U.S. Lighthouse Board, decided to add 60 feet to the height of the lighthouse, thereby, making the tower 150 feet tall. The newly extended tower was then painted “the top half red and the bottom half white,” making the lighthouse more recognizable during the day. 

Faced with the need for extensive lighthouse repairs after the Civil War, Congress decided to appropriate funds for a new and improved lighthouse at Cape Hatteras and demolish the old one. 

The new lighthouse was lit on Dec. 16, 1870. It received the famous black and white stripe daymark pattern in 1873. The Lighthouse Board assigned each lighthouse a distinctive paint pattern (daymark) and different light sequence (nightmark) to allow mariners to recognize it from all others during the day and night as they sailed along the coast.

 

Due to threatening beach erosion, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1935. The beacon was then moved temporarily to a skeletal steel tower. By 1950, Mother Nature had rebuilt the beach in front of the lighthouse, so the Coast Guard returned the beacon to the lighthouse. 

The lighthouse was absorbed by the newly established Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 1953. Discussions within the U.S. National Park Service began about ways to stabilize the beach in front of the lighthouse. 

In 1999, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was perilously close to the ocean’s edge. It was time to move to higher ground. The lighthouse traveled a distance of 2,900 feet in 23 days.

 

The enormous $11.8 million undertaking was a huge success. The ASCE selected the “relocation project” as the recipient of its annual Outstanding Civil Engineering Award of the year. The organization commented that “the huge edifice was moved atop rollers in much the same fashion it is thought the blocks for the great pyramids of Egypt were moved.” 

John M. Havel of Salvo, an Outer Banks community, is the owner of Havel Research Associates. He has studied all aspects of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for many years. He told Jennifer Allen of the North Carolina Coastal Federation: 

“I personally know at least three locals – and there were many, many more – who would have sworn on their parents’ graves that the lighthouse was certain to break apart and crumble once they tried to lift or move it. In actual fact, the brilliant and brave men and women who planned and executed this feat had no qualms at all,” Havel said. 

“Records, instruments and photographs show that not one out of the 1,250,000 bricks was cracked or broken during the move.”