1/20/2024 0 Comments Lighthouse jobs near me![]() ![]() And still every evening, amidst the water towers and blinking radio antennae of modern development, its powerful light beams out across the darkening waves, keeping silent watch over the treacherous waters known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.Lighthouses once played a vital role to seafarers as they were a beacon in the night or during a storm that there was "land ho" nearby. Though not as well-known as its neighbors, it remains an important part of local history and a favorite spot for visitors. Tucked away between tall pine trees and freshwater marshland, the Bodie Island Light presents anything but a typical lighthouse setting. Still a functioning navigational aid, the tower is open seasonally for public tours. The most recent restoration of the lighthouse itself was completed in 2013. The building now serves as a ranger office and visitor center for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The keepers' duplex has since undergone two historic restorations, the last having been completed in May 1992. Finally, all of the light station’s property, except the tower, was transferred to the National Park Service in 1953. The light was electrified in 1932, phasing out the need for on-site keepers. Eventually, progress enabled school buses to reach the island and the families were able to live with the keepers. Such situations, of course, were quite common in the Lighthouse Service. This meant that the keeper’s wife and children lived away from the lighthouse except during the summer months, which made for a lonely and trying family life most of the year. Bodie Island was completely undeveloped and the closest school was in Manteo on neighboring Roanoke Island (accessible only by boat). From the keeper’s perspective, however, there remained the problem of isolation. There have been few other difficulties with the lighthouse itself since its completion. The keepers' quarters duplex was completed soon thereafter.Įarly problems with flocks of geese crashing into the lens and improper grounding for electrical storms were quickly rectified with screening for the lantern and a lightning rod for the tower. Construction of the tower proceeded smoothly and it first exhibited its light, magnified by a powerful first-order Fresnel lens, on October 1, 1872. ![]() ![]() Government contracts brought bricks and stone from Baltimore firms and ironwork from a New York foundry. Work crews, equipment, and materials from the recent lighthouse project at Cape Hatteras were used to build necessary loading docks, dwellings, and facilities. The new 15-acre site, purchased by the government for $150.00 from John Etheridge, was north of the inlet. The first two Bodie Island Lights had been located south of Oregon Inlet, actually on Pea Island. Still, it was not until 1871 that construction began. Though the Board was disposed against the idea, numerous petitions came in from concerned ship captains and, finally, it decided in favor of a third Bodie Island Lighthouse. The Bodie Island Lighthouse and Double Keepers' QuartersĪfter the war, the coast near Bodie Island remained dark for several years while a replacement tower was considered by the Lighthouse Board. Fearing that the 80-foot tower would be used by Union forces, retreating Confederate troops blew it up in 1861. Though funded, contracted, and completed in prompt fashion at a nearby site in 1859, it soon succumbed to an unforeseen danger - the Civil War. The second lighthouse fared little better than its wobbly predecessor. Numerous expensive repairs failed to rectify the problem and the lighthouse had to be abandoned in 1859. ![]() As a result, the 54-foot tower began to lean within two years after completion. This proved disastrous when Blount ordered an unsupported brick foundation laid, despite Gibbons' recommendations to the contrary. Though the skillful Francis Gibbons was contracted as engineer, the project's overseer was a former Customs official named Thomas Blount, who unfortunately, had no lighthouse experience at all. He punctuated his recommendation with the statement that "more vessels are lost there than on any other part of our coast."Ĭongress responded with an appropriation for a lighthouse that same year, but complications over purchasing the necessary land delayed construction until 1847. Coste determined that southbound ships were in great need of a beacon on or near Bodie Island by which they could fix their position for navigating the dangerous cape. Coste of the revenue cutter Campbell to examine the coastline for potential lighthouse sites that would supplement the existing one at Cape Hatteras. In 1837, the federal government sent Lieutenant Napoleon L. Fresnel lens atop the Bodie Island Lighthouse History ![]()
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