Moving the cape hatteras lighthouse

For centuries, mariners relied on wind and ocean currents to transport their crafts over the seas. Along the eastern seaboard of the United States the Gulf Stream carries ships northward, and the Labrador current carries them south. Both of these currents flow past the shallow and treacherous Diamond Shoals at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Long known as "theGraveyard of the Atlantic," some sources estimate that more than 2000 ships have sunk off the Outer Banks of North Carolina since Europeans first arrived.

In 1797, the United States Congress authorized the construction of a lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. Construction was completed in 1803, but the lighthouse was considered inadequate almost from the beginning. It was built of sandstone blocks, 90 feet high, and located about one mile inland from the ocean. Originally the lighthouse used Argand-type reflector lamps; these were subsequently replaced with Lewis-type reflector lamps. The light from these lamps was never considered bright enough. In 1854 the height of the lighthouse was increased to 150 feet, and a Fresnel lens was installed. This was the best and brightest optical lens available at the time, and was used in most lighthouses in the late 19th century. The Fresnel lens in the first Cape Hatteras lighthouse was twelve feet tall and made of over 12,800 pounds of glass and bronze, including 1000 prisms. The lighthouse was shelled during the Civil War which exacerbated the existing structural problems. Cracks were discovered in the sandstone in the late 1860s, and construction of a new lighthouse was recommended. The first Cape Hatteras lighthouse was demolished in 1871; the ruins remained visible until 1980, when a storm destroyed the last bits of the foundation.

There is a saying that time and tide wait for no one…nor do they wait for lighthouses. Barrier islands, such as the one on which the Cape Hatteras lighthouse is built, are very unstable. In 1870 the Cape Hatteras light was 1500 feet from the ocean. Because of erosion, by 1919 the tower was only 300 feet from the water, and only 100 feet from the surf by 1935. From the 1930s through the 1970s a number of steps were taken to protect the lighthouse from the sea. These include installation of steel sheet pile groins; construction of barrier sand dunes; placement of large nylon sandbags in front of the lighthouse; construction of reinforced concrete groins; and sand replenishment projects. Erosion continued. Beginning in 1981 and throughout the 1980s, gravel-filled polypropylene tubes were dropped offshore to catch sand and create an underwater sandbar. Sandbags and groins continued to be used, along with artificial seaweed.

All of these efforts helped, for a while. But still the surf eroded the coastline, until by 1987 the lighthouse was again only 120 feet from the sea. In 1998, after a decade of political and public debate, discussion, and controversy, the National Park Service issued a Request for Proposals for the Relocation of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. By June 1998, the selection committee awarded the contract to International Chimney Corporation of Buffalo, New York. In October 1998 the United States Congress appropriated $9,800,000 for the project, and in November 1998 the National Park Service signed the contract with International Chimney Corporation. ICC was to move the lighthouse inland 1600 feet.

In January 1999 ICC began preparing the lighthouse and nearby structures for the move. The new site was cleared, and by the end of March the oil house and two Keepers Quarters had been moved to the new location. Only the spiral-striped lighthouse remained. To create a "roadway" between the new concrete foundation and the tower, workers compacted the sand and covered it with crushed stone and steel mats. In June 1999 ICC mined the foundation - more than 800 tons of granite - from under the lighthouse. The granite was replaced with steel supports with hydraulic jacks. The jacks allowed ICC to lift the lighthouse six feet to install steel support beams underneath as a temporary foundation. On June 17, 1999 the lighthouse began to move. Workers used hydraulic jacks on rollers to gently nudge the lighthouse along track beams. Moving slowly and levelly, in five-foot increments, the lighthouse moved 2900 feet in just 23 days. On July 9, 1999 the lighthouse was lowered to its new concrete pad, three weeks ahead of schedule. The temporary steel foundation was removed and replaced with brick. The lighthouse suffered no apparent structural changes as a result of the move.

On November 13, 1999, the National Park Service held a ceremonial relighting of the lighthouse. The American Society of Civil Engineering awarded the Lighthouse Relocation Project the Outstanding Civil Engineering Award for the year 2000. Now 1600 feet from the pounding surf, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse reopened to the public in May 2000.