Today marks the 15th anniversary of the relighting of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse after its historic 1999 move to save it from the sea. This article on the National Park Service website gives an excellent accounting of how it was accomplished and what was involved.
“In 1999, the Cape Hatteras Light Station, which consists of seven historic structures, was successfully relocated 2,900 feet from the spot on which it had stood since 1870. Because of the threat of shoreline erosion, a natural process, the entire light station was safely moved to a new site where the historic buildings and cisterns were placed in spatial and elevational relationship to each other, exactly as they had been at the original site. While the National Park Service has met its obligation to both historic preservation and coastal protection, the much-heralded move of the historic station, especially the lighthouse, was hotly debated and closely watched.
Why the Cape Hatteras Light Station Had to be Moved
When completed in 1870, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse was located a safe 1,500 feet from the ocean. Even then, however, storm-driven tides completely washed over Hatteras Island, eroding sand from the ocean side of the island and depositing it on the sound side. By 1970, this process, which has caused the gradual westward migration of the Outer Banks for at least the past 10,000 years, left the lighthouse just 120 feet from the ocean’s edge and almost certain destruction.”
[box type=”bio”] Read the full story of how and why the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved HERE.[/box]