For the first time in 52 years, a new light will shine atop the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
For the first time since the 1950s, a new light will soon shine from the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
The restoration contractor planned to switch the lighthouse’s source of light to a temporary beacon Thursday evening as the historic landmark undergoes an 18-month renovation project.
The temporary LED light is installed on the top of scaffolding that now surrounds the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The light is U.S. Coast Guard approved, visible for 18 miles, and will flash every 7½ seconds, brighter than the current light, the National Park Service said in a news release.
In the meantime, Artworks of Florida is fabricating a replica of the lighthouse’s first-order Fresnel lens, which will be installed as the restoration work wraps up in 2026.
Early next week, the Coast Guard plans to disassemble and remove the current beacon, which has provided light atop the lighthouse for the past 52 years.
The lighthouse looks quite a bit different since last summer.
In January, the National Park Service and its contractors began a $19.2 million restoration project on the 198-foot lighthouse, the first major renovation in its 154-year history.
“When this lighthouse project is done, the lighthouse will be in better shape than it has been since it was built in 1870,” National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac said during a January media tour of the ongoing work.
Designed and constructed between 1868-70, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998. Facing threats from coastal erosion, the lighthouse and all its buildings were moved inland 2,900 feet in 1999.
In September, the National Park Service awarded the rehabilitation project to Massachusetts-based Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services. The company’s work includes restoring the stone base that holds Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, rehabilitating the Fort Jefferson Lighthouse at Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida and restoring and stabilizing ruins in San Antonio.
The Hatteras project will take about a year and a half and will be a busy construction zone as work continues. The swirled black-and-white tower, as of mid-April, was covered nearly to the top with scaffolding extending more than 200 feet.
The lighthouse, visited by about 500,000 people each year, remains closed to climbing until 2026 but the grounds remain open.
