They stand as beacons of warning and safety, their vigil a never-ending reminder of the dangers of the waters they protect. From the Virginia State line, to the beauty of Silver Lake on Ocracoke Island, stand four sentinels of the Atlantic, soaring over the sand dunes of the Outer Banks.
We are a seafaring nation – our history forever entwined with the tales of ships and sailors that plied the treacherous waters of the Eastern Seaboard. One of the first acts of the United States Congress was to create the Lighthouse Establishment (1789) as part of the fledgling government. One of the first federally funded construction projects was the 1797 building of the Montauk Point lighthouse on Long Island.
By the beginning of the 19th century, lighthouse construction was in full swing. Many of the first lighthouses were poorly constructed using substandard materials, but many have stood firm across the centuries.
Beginning operation in 1823, Ocracoke Light is the oldest operating lighthouse on the North Carolina coast. With its distinctive solid white tower and fixed beam that can be seen 14 miles out to sea, it has been guiding ships into Silver Lake, the picturesque harbor surrounded by the village of Ocracoke. Rising 76’ above the harbor, with walls twelve feet thick at the base, the Light has withstood all of Mother Nature’s fury for over 175 years.
Each lighthouse is visually unique, for the lighthouses were more than nighttime warning beacons. Early mariners skirted the coast of the United States, and during the daytime the markings of the lighthouses were important navigational aids.
Currituck Beach Light, completed in December of 1875, illuminated the last stretch of darkened coastline on the East Coast. Its red brick left unpainted to distinguish it from any other lighthouse on the East Coast, the 165’ tower is located in the village of Corolla. One of two Outer Banks lighthouses that may be climbed, the lighthouse, lightkeeper’s home and grounds have been beautifully restored by the Outer Banks Conservationists.
Bodie Island Lighthouse, 32 miles south of the Currituck Beach Light, is identical in construction to its northern neighbor. The third lighthouse built on the site – the first one a victim of faulty construction, the second destroyed in the Civil War – it is painted with horizontal stripes in black and white paint. The tower cannot be climbed, but there is a small museum and giftshop at the base, and the grounds surrounding it are a wonder of wetland impoundments and marshlands waiting to be explored.
The lighthouses that guard the seas of the Graveyard of the Atlantic are some of the most famous in the world. The Hatteras Light, with its distinctive spiraled black and white stripes, has become almost an icon or symbol for lighthouses everywhere. Like the Currituck Beach Light, the Hatteras Light may also be climbed.
Completed in 1870, the structure is 208’ in height and is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. Its first order Fresnel lens sends a beacon 20 miles out to sea – a light that broadcasts a warning to all mariners of the treacherous Diamond Shoals, the most dangerous waters of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. |
