5/13/07 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Today we headed south to visit the famous Hatteras Lighthouse. At 200 feet, this is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country. It was originally built in 1870 about 1,500 feet inland from the ocean. Unfortunately, the Outer Banks islands are slowly moving westward and by 1999 the lighthouse was near the water's edge and in danger of falling into the sea. It was decided to relocate the lighthouse about 1/2 mile southwest, where it would be about 1,800 feet from the ocean. The pictures show the lighthouse in its new location and also the original location, which is marked by a circle of large stones.


We took a short walk on the beach near the old lighthouse foundation. It was a really windy day, with the sand blowing along the beach. We watched some windsurfers and caught a really great shot of one of them "getting some air". He must have been at least 10 feet above the water.

On our way out, we passed this turtle guarding the entrance road to the lighthouse.

We drove a short way south to the National Seashore's campground at Frisco. There were only a few other campers there and we picked out a great campsite at the top of a hill with a nice view of the ocean.

We went for a walk on the beach next to the campground and saw a number of small birds probing the sand with their bills looking for food. This one found something tasty.

Here's the view out of our window as the sun was setting.