Lighthouses: they stand tall, they are colorful, they are historic, their beacon runs 24-7-365, they save lives. People get married in them, plan their vacations around them and write books about them. Companies use them as their logo, churches call them selves lighthouses. What’s not to like about a lighthouse? Thousands of people visit our nation’s lighthouses annually and, even though some are out of commission now, they still stand tall and remind us of how many lives they have saved. They are romantic, they are practical and they come in all different sizes, colors and shapes.
Sadly, when lighthouses began to be replaced, people abandoned them and they were allowed to fall into disrepair. However, as lighthouse spotting grew and people began to visit them more often, groups sprang up and cities and communities took interest int he lighthouses in their area and many have been refurbished, their beacons have been repaired and replaced and they are open for business again.
Yet, their very nature, their very location, threatens them over and over again. That close to the ocean, the winds and the waves, they are subject to forces of nature that can erode their base and render them useless. In the case of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, storm driven tides and winds uplift the sand on the ocean side and deposit it on the sound side of the thin, low barrier island called Cape Hatteras. This undermines the foundation of the lighthouse and threatens its very existence.
When this lighthouse was built in 1870, it was a safe 1500’ from the ocean. However, by the 1930’s, it was obvious that the ocean was moving nearer - that the oceanside sand was ‘moving’ over to the sound side. In the 1930’s, the coast Guard built some metal sheet ‘walls’ perpendicular to the shore to try to protect the lighthouse from the wave action. However, in 1936 they abandoned the lighthouse and erected a metal tower further away with 2 100-watt bulbs lights that could reach 20 miles out to sea. Then, in 1970, with the ocean just 120’ away, more metal walls were built. To no avail. It was still too close to the ocean and its forces.
Note in this picture how close to the lighthouse, the ocean is lapping at its foundation. You can also see one of the sheet metal walls, the parking lot for visitors and the two keeper’s homes. All dangerously close to the water’s edge.
Finally, in 1999, they moved the lighthouse. The plan was to move the 4830 TON structure by lifting it off its foundation, putting it on a rolling transport system and move it along a route prepared in advance to a safer location much further inland - with beach grasses and brush to protect it by holding the sand in. Here’s a picture of the lighthouse, the track, the new location, and the beach flora.
Several months ago, we saw the transport system for the shuttle in the Kennedy Space Center. We actually saw a 3-story brick apartment house being moved down city streets in Des Moines. Amazing procedure. And, this was no different. Lift it up, put rollers under it, put a track in front of it and pull. Easy peasy. Yeah, right. Well, not that easy. They had 60 automatic sensors all over the lighthouse and even put a weather station at the top to measure the wind speed and direction. If that lighthouse tilted even the tiniest bit, if it shifted even the tiniest bit - they knew it and could stop. The lighthouse moved 5’ at a time all the way down the 2900’ track to its new place, 1600’ from the ocean. The predictions are that it will not be threatened by the ocean for another 100 years.
The lighthouse keepers homes had been moved earlier and were already in position. Now, the relative positions of the lighthouse and the keeper’s homes are the same as before, just safely inland. What fun it would have been to watch that thing move down the track. Gary and I enjoyed watching the 3-story brick apartment home move down the city streets of Des Moines, we would really have like watching this. However, not everyone appreciated this move. One guy in the Visitor’s Center asked how much the move cost in a tone which implied that any amount was too much. But, the lighthouse will reap that back in a few years - both in fees and in tourist dollars in Cape Hatteras. He’s one of those guys who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Meanwhile we enjoyed our visit, even though we could not climb up the lighthouse. The keeper’s homes had some marvelous displays: one on the U-85 which sunks lots of ships off America’s coast during WWII. They had other displays on keepers’ responsibilities, and, surprise, surprise, they had a display on moving the lighthouse, and on the ‘disappearance’ of the Fresnel lens.
‘Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers.’
George Carlin
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