Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

A tall tower with black and white stripes rises above the dunes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Its spiral pattern makes the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse easy to recognize during the day. At night, its light has helped sailors identify a dangerous stretch of coast.

The waters near Cape Hatteras are sometimes called the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Shifting sandbars and powerful currents have contributed to many shipwrecks there. A lighthouse cannot remove these dangers, but its light can help mariners recognize where they are and steer more safely.

The present lighthouse was completed in 1870. It stands about 198 feet tall, making it one of the tallest brick lighthouses in the United States. Its distinctive stripes also served as a daymark: a pattern that helped sailors tell it apart from other coastal structures in daylight.

Before the light was automated, lighthouse keepers had an important job. They tended the lamp and equipment and kept the lens clean so the light could shine clearly. Keepers and their families lived in houses near the tower, close enough for the keepers to care for the light in difficult weather.

The coast itself is always changing. Waves and currents carry sand away from some places and deposit it in others. By the late 1900s, the ocean had moved dangerously close to the lighthouse. In 1999, workers moved the enormous tower and several nearby buildings about half a mile inland to protect them from erosion.

Today, coastal dunes still surround the lighthouse grounds. These sandy ridges, often held together by plant roots, help shelter the land behind them from wind and waves. The striped tower remains a reminder of both the dangers of the sea and the efforts people have made to navigate them.