Visit and post photos at five of the state's seven major lighthouses to qualify.
North Carolina's maritime history is long, storied, and significant. Its treacherous coastline has earned the name Graveyard of the Atlantic. For example, Frying Pan Shoals, extending off Bald Head Island, has places just fifty feet deep--even 30 miles from land! Since the mid-1800s, lighthouses have been absolutely vital to maritime safety. While the GPS and related computerized navigational systems have largely made lighthouses obsolete, their light still serves as a helpful navigational beacon. Lighthouses are distinguished by their color and pattern by day and the period between "flashes" by night. North Carolina's lighthouses are some of the state's most iconic treasures.
To claim a find: Visit five of North Carolina's seven lighthouses. Post photos of you or your avatar and the lighthouse. The lighthouse needs to be prominent in the photo, so don't submit a photo of just the lighthouse's top poking through the trees or the lighthouse as a speck two miles away. Try to get within 0.3 miles of the posted coordinates to get a picture. Please, no vacation photos from decades ago; try to limit it to photos taken during your caching career.
The Fresnel Lens was developed specifically for lighthouses. Its design was thinner and lighter than anything else at the time. Its light-focusing ability allowed the light to be visible from farther distances. The lenses are divided into six orders based on their size and focal length. A first order lens is the largest and sixth order is smallest. Discussions on lighthouses mention these special lenses.
Lighthouse-keeping was tough work! Keeping track of fuel (lard oil or kerosene before electricity was used) and maintaining the wicks was one thing. The glass had to be polished, the soot rubbed away from the lenses, and the glass cleaned. For the lenses to rotate, which makes the light appear to flash, a mechanical means similar to a grandfather clock was used. The keeper would have to wind the mechanism by hand every few hours! Not to mention the beaches didn't have too many residents, so it was also quite lonely work.
Currituck Beach Light
aka Corolla Light
Distinction: solid red brick
Lit in 1875, 162 feet
On December 1, 1875, the Currituck Beach Light was completed, located between Cape Henry Light (VA) and Bodie Island. Unlike its fellows, Currituck Beach Light was not painted, leaving its brick facade visible. Since 1991 visitors have been allowed to climb the original 220 steps to the outdoor gallery. Access to the lens room is not permitted as the first order lens is not only the original lens, but it is still a functioning one (but you can go outside). The light comes on every night and shines from 158 feet at 20-second intervals to warn ships hugging the chain of barrier islands along the coast.
Bodie Island Lighthouse
Nags Head Light
Distinction: horizontal black and white stripes
Lit in 1872, 156 feet
The preceding Bodie Island lighthouses actually stood south of Oregon Inlet on Pea Island in an area that is now under water due to the southward migration of the inlet. The first was built in 1847 and then abandoned in 1859 due to a poor foundation. The second, built in 1859, was destroyed in 1861 by retreating Confederate troops who feared it would be used as a Union observation post during the Civil War. The third and current lighthouse, with its original first order Fresnel lens, was completed in 1872. This lighthouse was built further north and further inland on a 15-acre site.
While some people (including North Carolinians not from the Outer Banks) pronounce the name with a long "o" sound, it is traditionally pronounced as
body. Folklore would have you believe it is due to the number of dead sailors washed ashore from wrecked ships along this portion of the East Coast, which has long been known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic but that is not true. The name is actually derived from the original name of the area, which was "Bodie's Island" after the Body family who once owned the land that was a separate barrier island prior to 1811 when Roanoke inlet that separated it from the Currituck Banks to the north closed. Local gift shops sell maps of the shipwrecks on the ocean floor. An impressive array of ships have been sunk due to storms, shoals, and German U-boats during World War I and World War II.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Distinction: black and white candy stripes
Lit in 1857, 210 feet
This is the tallest lighthouse in the United States and second tallest brick lighthouse in the world (20th tallest overall)! It's also the most iconic of all North Carolina lighthouses. Cape Hatteras was constructed to warn sailors of passing too close to Frying Pan Shoals, part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. However, the first structure provided a light so dim that sailors could not distinguish it from other ships on the open ocean. A series of improvements needed to be made. The first structure was destroyed during the Civil War.
Due to coastal erosion, the second structure needed to be moved in 1999. I remember this as it was all over the news. So, how do you move a lighthouse? It's close in technique for moving the Space Shuttle: inch by inch, but on greased rails instead of a crawler. For comparison: Space Shuttle - 184 feet, 2,030 tons; lighthouse - 210 feet, 5,000 tons. Hmm... the lighthouse wins! It took 23 days to move it from a scant 15 feet from the water's edge to 1,500 feet inland. The full move, including preparation, moving, and finishing, took just shy of a full year. Unfortunately, the Outer Banks' ultimate fate is to join the North Carolina mainland in millions of years, if rising sea levels don't make it a shoal first.
Ocracoke Lighthouse
Distinction: a white stubby runt of a lighthouse
Lit in 1823, 76 feet
Its diameter narrows from 25 feet at the base to 12 feet at its peak. In 1864, Confederate troops dismantled the fourth-order Fresnel Lens, but Union forces later restored it. Unlike other lighthouses, at least it wasn't destroyed in the war!
Ocracoke Light is the oldest operating light station in North Carolina and the second oldest lighthouse still standing in the state. The lighthouse was automated in 1955. During the summer months, visitors may access the base of the lighthouse. Access to the top of the lighthouse is not allowed due to the simple steel spiral staircase being safe only for maintenance activity.
Despite the lighthouse's diminutive stature, it serves as a very picturesque backdrop for photos of boats near the island.
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Distinction: black and white diamonds
Lit in 1859, 163 feet
The original structure was the fourth lighthouse to be built in North Carolina and was a 96 foot high brick tower with wooden shingles painted with red and white horizontal stripes. But it proved to be too short to light the treacherous Lookout Shoals, which were nicknamed the "Horrible Headland."
The present lighthouse lighthouse used a first-order Fresnel lens which allowed the light to shine brighter. On May 20, 1861, North Carolina joined the Confederacy and all of the lenses were removed from the coastal lighthouses and navigational beacons to prevent Union forces from using the lights to navigate the coast. Union troops captured the nearby Beaufort and Morehead City in 1862 and, by the end of the next year, a third-order Fresnel lens was installed in the Cape Lookout lighthouses. On April 2, 1864, a small group of Confederate troops under the command of L.C. Harland snuck through Union lines and out to the lighthouse. Their attempt to blow up the lighthouse was unsuccessful, however the explosion did destroy the lighthouse oil supply and damaged the iron stairs. With iron unavailable during the war, the damaged sections of the stairs were replaced by wooden ones. The Fresnel lenses from all the North Carolina lighthouses were found in 1865 in Raleigh, NC. The lenses were shipped back to their original manufacturers to be checked out and repaired. In 1867, the temporary wooden stairs were replaced when iron once again became available after the war and the original first-order Fresnel lens was reinstalled.
In 1873, the lighthouse was painted in its distinctive black and white diagonal checkerboard, or diamond, pattern. There are those who believe the Cape Hatteras Light and the Cape Lookout Light paint schemes were reversed. This belief arose since the Cape Hatteras Light protects ships from Diamond Shoals and should therefore have the diamond pattern. However, the daymark patterns were randomly assigned and there is no evidence to suggest that the Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras patterns were switched.
The lighthouse is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore and can only be accessed by private ferry. This is one reason why you don't have to visit all lighthouses to get credit for this virtual.
Oak Island Lighthouse
Distinction: from bottom to top, a gray, white, and black stripe
Lit in 1958, 153 feet
Built in 1957-58 by Brinkley, W.F. & Son Construction Co. located in Granite Quarry NC, it was one off the last lighthouses constructed in the US. Oak Island Lighthouse replaced the Cape Fear Light, which was demolished in 1958. Cape Fear Light, which began operation in 1903, was in turn a functional replacement for the still standing and now popular tourist attraction, the 1817 Bald Head Light. The Oak Island Light was lit for the first time in May 1958 and during the period 1958–1962, it was the brightest in the US.
The Oak Island Lighthouse grounds are open to the public year-round for viewing and picture taking, with 30 minute parking provided at the base of the tower from sunrise until sunset. The interior of the lighthouse is open for visits by the general public, with tours to the second level (up twelve steps) from Memorial Day–Labor Day on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tours to the top of the lighthouse, which has an outside balcony, are offered year-round. It requires climbing 131 steps, which unlike the classic circular pattern, have straight but very steep sections with eight landings along the way, a style referred to as a ‘ships ladder.’ A minimum of two weeks (four weeks in the summer months) advance notice is normally required for such a tour reservation, which can be obtained on-line by visiting the Oak Island Lighthouse web site.
When I visited the lighthouse, its flash pattern made me nickname this lighthouse "disco on a stick".
Bald Head Lighthouse
Distinction: octagonal gray "cammo" stone pattern (I'm logging a "needs maintenance")
Lit in 1817, 110 feet
Nicknamed "Old Baldy", it is the oldest lighthouse still standing in North Carolina. It is the second of three lighthouses that have been built on Bald Head Island. The current lighthouse was built further inland where it would not be threatened by shifting sands along the river for just under $16,000 using bricks salvaged from the old tower. The octagonal brick tower's exterior was originally whitewashed. At its base, the tower is 36 feet wide and at its top 14.25 feet wide, while the walls are 5 feet thick at the base and taper to 2.5 feet at the top. The rectangular stairway leading up the inside of the tower is made of Carolina yellow pine. The lantern room sits on top of one of the tower support beams which makes it offset from the center of the tower. Old Baldy was originally equipped with an array of 15 lamps and reflectors, and as technology improved, it later housed a Fresnel lens.
Old Baldy was first lit in 1817 by keeper, Sedgwick Springs, a veteran of the American Revolution. He had been appointed to the position in 1806 at the behest of US President Thomas Jefferson and served as the light keeper at Bald Head for more than 30 years. The Bald Head Lighthouse soon proved to be inadequate especially during bad weather.
When Hurricane Fran struck on September 5, 1996, the few remaining residents sought shelter inside the lighthouse. It suffered minimal damage. It is possibly one of the safest structures on the island; it is now known to withstand at least Category 3 hurricanes.
When given a chance to create a virtual, I at first didn't know what I'd make. I considered Mount Everest or the Titanic Museum in Belfast, then riffled through lists of odd places in the state. Sometime later, it occurred to me to create something a little more personal. When I was young, I lived just south of Currituck (in Aydlett) for a few years and could see Corolla Light across the sound from the kitchen window. I was a lighthouse fan during this time, amassing a collection of a hundred some-odd postcards of the state's lighthouses. As of this writing, I've been to five of the lighthouses and up only two of them: Bodie Island and Corolla. I have yet to visit Cape Lookout and Bald Head. Perhaps, one day, I will. So I thought of sharing this experience with everyone.
Not listed is Frying Pan Shoals Lighthouse. I kid you not: it has been transformed into an expensive place to spend the night. You have my deepest respect and envy if you manage to get a picture of yourself there, way out at sea. Also not listed is Price Creek Lighthouse. It's only 26 feet high, is on private property, and isn't that scenic.
By the way, I've also been to lighthouses in Michigan, Florida, Washington, and Prince Edward Island. I've preferred my home state's lighthouses to the others I've seen. I think ours is the best collection.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.