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Bodie Island Light (Bodie Island, North Carolina)
Bodie
Island is part of a barrier island chain known as the Outer Banks of North
Carolina. The
ocean currents and sandy shoals off the coast of the Outer Banks pose a very
dangerous threat to ships navigating north and south along the coast. Two
powerful ocean currents, the Gulf Stream from the south and the Virginia Coastal
Current from the north, collide off of the Cape's point stirring up the sandy sea bottom
and creating ever changing shoals.
Although it is advantageous for mariners to ride these currents, doing so
forces them very close to the dangerous sandy shoals that extend out from the
coast. A
treacherous shoal known as Diamond Shoals extends out fourteen miles from the
tip of Cape Hatteras and has been responsible for the shipwrecks of hundreds of
ships, claiming thousands of lives over the years.
In fact, it became known as the ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’. The
Cape Hatteras lighthouse was completed in 1803.
Although providing some assistance to mariners, it alone was insufficient
especially to the north where the closest Lighthouse was the Cape Henry Light at
Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In 1837 the federal government sent Lieutenant Napolean Coste to examine
the coastline off
of North Carolina to determine where lighthouses should be built to
supplement the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
Lieutenant Coste determined that a light was needed on or near Bodie
Island to help southbound ships. The
current lighthouse at Bodie Island is actually the third lighthouse that was
built. The
first lighthouse was a 54 foot tower that was built in 1847.
It was actually built on Pea Island just on the other side of the Oregon Inlet. Unfortunately,
faulty construction techniques were used and within two years the tower was
beginning to lean over and finally had to be abandoned in 1859.
That same year a second lighthouse was built nearby.
The second tower was built to better standards and was far more sturdy.
It was eighty feet tall and contained a third-order Fresnel lens. When
the Civil War began, the lighthouse beacons were extinguished by the south to
prevent the northern troops from taking advantage of the navigational beacons.
They provided a new role as lookout towers.
However, in 1861 the northern troops attacked and overtook the Outer
Banks. Not
wanting the northern troops to take advantage of the lighthouse beacons to
assist their ships, the retreating southern troops tried to destroy the
lighthouses. Cape
Hatteras Lighthouse survived the war but the lighthouse on Bodie Island was
blown up by the southern troops in 1861.
The Island remained dark for some time after the war while the Lighthouse
Board considered plans for a new lighthouse.
Towards
the end of 1870 the famous lighthouse at Cape Hatteras was completed.
The crew who built that lighthouse was then directed by the Lighthouse
Board to move north to Bodie Island on the north side of the Oregon Inlet and
begin construction of a new lighthouse. In 1871 work began.
Construction went smoothly and the lighthouse was completed and the light
lit on October 1, 1872. The keeper’s quarters were completed shortly
thereafter. This
third, and current, lighthouse is 156 feet tall and contains a first-order
Fresnel lens – visible at a range of about 19 miles.
The
light was electrified and automated in 1932 and the keepers moved out.
In 1953 the station’s property, except the tower, was transferred to
the National Park Service.
The keeper’s quarters has undergone two historic restorations and now
serves as a ranger office and visitor center for the Cape Hatteras National
Seashore. The
tower is closed to the public. Directions:
Route 168 in North Carolina connects with Route 158 in Barco, North Carolina.
From here follow Route 158 south to the Outer Banks and past Kitty Hawk.
Route 158 connects with Route 12 in Whalebone.
Follow Route 12 south to Bodie Island.
The turn off for the lighthouse is on the right hand side.
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All pictures are the original work of Rick Totton and are protected under copyright laws. Do not reproduce any images from this website without permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2000 Rick Totton.
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Until
bridges were built, the keeper at the Bodie Island light was fairly isolated.
The island was completely undeveloped and the closest town was accessible only
by boat.
