| Lighthouses
Cape Hatteras, NC |
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Hatteras Island has an extremely dangerous shoreline, known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic". The first lighthouse was built here in 1803 and has been replaced and updated twice. The current light, built in 1870, originally stood 1,500 feet from the ocean. Erosion brought the ocean dangerously close to the landmark light and a huge rescue effort was undertaken. "Cape Hatteras lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the country. It was moved about 1/2 mile in Fall 1999 costing $11.8M (wow!) to protect it's weak foundation from eroding (the foundation was made of logs in water on sand). It's stripes are meant to be a noticeable daymark. I think it's a noticeable identification!"--Harrison George Washington signed the first national public works legislation in 1789, the 9th act of congress. It was to construct and maintain a federal program of lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers. There was no funding for ten years, but by 1820, the federal government had build 40 lighthouses. |
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"This lighthouse is the oldest in North Carolina and the second oldest in the country. It was built in 1823 out of brick. The walls are 5 feet thick at the base and they get thinner going up. Instead of being on the beach, it is on high land so it can be seen by boats 14 miles in all directions around the island. Next to the lighthouse is a small building that once held whale and porpoise oil to fuel the light, but now it holds a small back-up generator for the electric light."--Harrison |
From the Dover coloring book North American Lighthouses by John Batchelor |
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"Back in the 1500s, the Europeans brought Spanish ponies on ships. Sometime horses would be left in the water after ship wrecks and would swim to land. There used to be 300 horses on Ocracoke, but today there are only about 30. These aren't wild ponies anymore. They are in a fenced pasture. In the 1950s Boy Scouts took care of them."--Amanda |
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We spent a week on Hatteras Island (mostly inside the LV catching up on web pages) and had sunny but windy weather most of the time. There was one sunny day with no wind, one day of very heavy rain, and sometimes the wind was incredibly strong, but all-in-all it was beautiful. We visited two different beaches, collecting seashells and digging a bit in the sand. Being winter, we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the calming waves and some great sunsets. |
Cape
Hatteras : America's Lighthouse
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Harrison made a drawing of a fresnel lens, like those used in Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island lights. "A fresnel lens focuses the light from one light source into one direction, making it much brighter, so it easier for the ships to see." French physicist Augustin Fresnel invented the fresnel lens in 1822, but the US didn't begin using it until 1852, after hundreds of sailors complained that the US had the worst lighthouses in the world. |
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For Younger Readers |
For Older Readers |
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PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA
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Cape
Hatteras is made up of three skinny barrier islands--Bodie, Hatteras
and Ocracoke--that stretch along the coast of North Carolina. This interesting
section of America has been gradually changing shape by winds and pounding
waves. Much of the cape is protected National Seashore and National
Wildlife Refuge--home to many specially adapted species of plants and
animals that can tolerate the extremes of this harsh environment.
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The Lighthouse Mystery (Boxcar Children, No. 8)
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