Cape Hatteras Light
From lighthouses
Buxton, North Carolina
Built: 1870
This distinctive "candy cane" lighthouse towers 208 feet - the tallest in America. It stands as part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at the southern elbow of Hatteras Island warning seafarers of the shallow Diamond Shoals which jut almost 14 miles into the Atlantic from the Cape. This light is the second of three lights that have shown from this location. From 1936 until 1950 the light was temporarily located atop a steel skeletal tower about 2 miles northeast of the present site. Shore erosion continues to plague the structure and debate ensues as to whether or not the tower should be relocated to safer ground. [Update: The lighthouse was relocated 2900 feet further from the shore in June & July of 1999. It was relit on November 13, 1999.]
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Lighthouses: A Photographic Journey
- Conceived and Developed by David S. Carter
- Photographs by Donald W. Carter
- Text by Diana K. Carter, Donald W. Carter & David S. Carter
Copyright © 1995-2011 David S. Carter, Donald W. Carter, & Diana K. Carter. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means, physical or electronic, in part or in full, without the express permission of the authors, is strictly prohibited.
This article was last modified on 6/4/2009.
