Today is SUPPOSED to be a nice, but not sunny day. There have been pockets of blue sky, however when we started south to Cape Hatteras on Hatteras Island, it seemed to always be overcast and there was a bit of a wind! At the intersection where the highway splits to either go to the mainland (Manteo) or go farther south, where we were going there was a fairly high dune with lots of people flying kites! Such an awesome sight to see! As we drove down the Outer Banks islands we went from which we were already on, to the next of the 3 remaining lighthouses called Bodie Island Lighthouse , then via a nice bridge onto Pea Island and then onto Hatteras Island where the town of Rodanthe is located. Rodanthe has been in the news lately due to several beach houses that have been engulfed by the sea and are falling down and the town/county does not know what to do about them. See pictures. From there we continued to drive down Highway 12 to the Cape Hatteras State Park where the light house is located. Crossing the bridge to Hatteras Island, I thought I saw the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse way off in the distance, however something was wrong! I said to Andrew that I think it is shrouded in scaffolding – it just does not look right! Those black and white stripes are very telling on this lighthouse and they were just not visible.
Sure enough, when we drove closer, I could see that it was under restoration, however there was an even bigger surprise for me in store once we got to the museum and watched the video. I have placed the video HERE. It seems that the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was NOT in the same place as when we visited it in 1976! Due to the beach eroding over time, where the beach got within 100 feet of the lighthouse, they decided to move it inland in the 1980’s by 1500 feet, which funny enough is the distance the lighthouse originally was from the sea when first built! I will let the video explain the details to you…. We/I also visited/left some money at the store and then walked to the museum which is one of the original houses that was moved also, to check out the display. The other house is used for staff accommodation.
Right now the lighthouse is planned to be back in service in late 2025. They have taken the “light” cupola off the top of it along with all the railings that surround the top where you can stand after climbing the stairs. They have also taken all the paint off, replaced some bricks and are next to repoint them (refill the crevices with mortar around the brick) and then paint the famous striped circular black and white colours of the lighthouse and red base, prior to putting the railings etc back and putting the new light and cupola lifted up via a crane. Then people will be able to climb the 200+ circular steps again to get to the top, which Andrew was able to avoid doing!
Before leaving the park visitors area, we heard that there was going to be a ranger talk, and I LOVE these, they bring me back to our days at Kokanee Park near Nelson where we would camp and go hear the park rangers talk and do fun crafts with us! There were quite a few people at the talk that looked like they were visiting from India, and then some other visitors like us too. Wow we were sure treated to a North Carolina weather show of rain during the talk! It was SO HUMID at that point and felt like rain and sure enough it came down at an angle into the shelter and was bouncing from the ground for about 10 minutes. The ranger thought nothing of it and kept talking while the rest of us moved away from the sides of the covered area that were becoming wet from the liquid sunshine!
Next we drove to the southern end of the park, where there was some wave action however more people seemed to be fishing. As there were no mats for me to walk on we just observed from the car which was at the edge of the dune. On the way back to Highway 12, we saw an interesting sight – not quite sure what to make of it and decided not to try… a wheelchair parking sign and wheelchair logo painted in front of a fence with no other parking available and a long road to walk / roll I presume to the beach!
We/I decided that as we were this far south, we mind as check out Hatteras town, which was 10 minutes away, prior to heading north. It was supposed to have a great Marine Museum there run by a local charity, however on the way there, I found it is only open on weekdays. Hatteras was a cute town – saw a “Red & White” grocery store with a lovely painting on its side. Reminded me of the Red & White grocery store we had near our house in Vancouver before Choices moved into it. Then, we turned around and started driving north and low and behold, as we were driving slowly behind another vehicle, I spotted a ramp to the beach! I just HAD to get out and explore! Luckily Andrew obliged and turned into the parking lot and I was able to check it out!
Here is the drive that we took –
