The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Move of the Millenium

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - Sept 2010      Photo: B. Perry

Old Location: N 35 15.300  W 75 31.255

New Location: N 35 15.031  W 75 31.738

The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a thin ribbon of barrier islands more than 200 miles long but only a mile or so wide.  These sandy islands, continually under attack by the wind and sea, have gradually moved from east to west for the last 10,000 years.    This migration makes any concept of permanence on the Outer Banks an iffy prospect at best (as a mini-golf park under the sand dunes of Kill Devil Hills can bear witness.)  About half-way down the Outer Banks at Cape Hatteras, the Labrador Current runs into the Gulf Stream, creating seas so treacherous that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.    The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has guided mariners through these waters since 1870.  But by 1998, it too was in danger of being destroyed by the relentless sea.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse by the sea

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built to replace an earlier lighthouse that had been damaged during the Civil War.  The new lighthouse rose 193 feet above the beach, making it the tallest brick lighthouse in the world when it first went into service on Dec. 16, 1871.  It was painted with black and white spiral stripes for easy recognition during the day and fitted with a rotating light which could be seen from 20 miles away at night.  When the lighthouse was built, it was 1,500 feet from the shoreline.  The banks continued their westward migration and, by 1919, the tower was only 300 feet from the water.  In 1935, with water lapping the lighthouse’s foundation, a skeleton tower was built in the nearby woods to take over the lighthouse duties and the abandoned lighthouse was turned over to the National Park Service.  The NPS arranged for the Civilian Conservation Corps to dump 500 feet of sand in front of the tower and build a number of erosion-control structures.  With the lighthouse safe once again, it was put back into service with a new light in 1950.  But the erosion continued. 

Peter Friesen on the job

By the 1990’s, it was clear that the sea was going to win the battle; the lighthouse had to be moved. International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, NY and Expert House Movers of Maryland were awarded the contract to move the lighthouse 2,870 feet to higher ground.  The move was highly controversial because many folks felt the beloved 4,400 ton structure could not be moved without damaging or destroying it.  They might have rested easier had they known Engineer Peter Friesen (1922-2009), a man who made a career out of moving enormous buildings, was on the job.  Pete’s motto was “Think it though.”  Beginning in January of 1999, workers excavated the foundation right down to the yellow-pine timbers which had supported the lighthouse since its construction.  A diamond saw was used to cut the tower from the granite base.  The granite and rubble foundation was removed, a grid of massive steel beams was built under the tower, and 100 hydraulic jacks were mounted under the beams.  Over a week, the jacks lifted the lighthouse five feet.  A track of parallel beams, each fitted with rollers, was installed under the main grid with jacks acting as shock-absorbers.  Sixty automated sensors were installed throughout the structure to detect any tilting or vibration of the tower. A path had been cleared and compacted from the beach to the new location.  The lighthouse was ready to roll.

The Lighthouse moves to its new home.

On June 17, 1999, the journey began.  Five lateral push jacks clamped to the rails pushed the metal framework and its cargo five feet forward very, very slowly.  When the jacks reached their limit, the clamps were reset and the process started over.  When the tower got to end of the track, the beams behind it were moved in front of it and the journey continued.  Once they got the hang of it, progress was actually faster than expected:  more than 200 feet per day.  Crowds of sightseers showed up to watch the lighthouse slowly moving away from the ocean.  After 23 days, the lighthouse arrived at its new home where the other historical structures that had been moved earlier were waiting for it. The lifting process used at the beach was reversed to lower the lighthouse onto its new foundation of 4 feet of reinforced concrete, 5 feet of brick, and 2 feet of rock.    On Nov. 13, 1999, the lighthouse resumed its duty keeping watch over the Graveyard of the Atlantic.  With 1600 feet between the lighthouse and the ocean, it’s safe once again – for a while, at least.

Here is a great slideshow of the move with photos by Scott Geib.

Here is a video of the relighting on Nov. 13, 1999.