My Mind's Eye

Remember your Angels are Watching

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Lighthouses of the Outer Banks: Part II vacation photos

Cape Hatteras 208' tall, 250 steps...
We climbed all the way to the top
Officially completed and lit in 1870
It is the 2nd of 3 that have been constructed in Buxton, NC
In 1803 the first Cape Hatteras light house was built it was sandstone it was 90'
the light from the Argand lamps and reflectors were not sufficient.  
It was modified to a new height of 150' in 1854 and first order Fresnel lens were installed
they were the most powerful of that time. In 1861, during the Civil War, the Fresnel was removed by retreating Confederate soldiers to keep it out of Union hands. Shell damage during the war and structural deterioration prompted construction of a replacement lighthouse in 1870.  In 1871 the original light house  was demolished
In 1999 Cape Hatteras lighthouse was moved 1/2 mile to save it from the encroaching Atlantic OceanThe lighthouse was cut from it original base, hydraulically lifted onto steel beams and traveled along
railroad tracks to is present location this took 23 days.  
In the picture below in the upper right hand corner you can see approximately where it sat before it was moved.  This photo was taken from the top looking down into the parking lot

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is my favorite!! Who knows why?

Currituck Beach Light house stands 158'  ~ 220 steps depending on who you asked.  It is located in Corolla, NC
It has a first order Fresnel lens which began flashing on December 1, 1875.
It is visible for 18 miles
Her beautiful natural bare brick makes her most unique...
The 'crazy peeps' climbed to the top of this beauty too
Mom likes this photo looking up through the trees

Bodie (pronounced body) Island Light Station
150', 214 steps
Located just south of Nags Head, NC
Built in 1847 on the south side of the Oregon Inlet known today as Pea Island.
Due to a poor foundation it was rebuilt in 1859 in the same location.
However, it was blown up in 1861 by retreating Confederate troops who feared
the Union would use it to their advantage for navigation.
Today's Bodie Island Lighthouse was completed in 1872 this time on the north side of
the Oregon Inlet.  It isn't far from Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  It has a first order 
Fresnel lens that flashes its 160,000 candlepower beacon 19 miles.
It is an architectural twin to Currituck Lighthouse except for being painted with black and whitehorizontal stripes

Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
was modeled after a 1877-1955 screwpile lighthouse that once guided mariners along a narrow channel connecting the Pamlico Sound to the Croatan Sound.  The Pamlico Sound is 70 nautical miles in length and encompasses 1,700 sq miles and was once mistaken by early explorers as the Pacific Ocean.  During the peeps vacation they traveled 30 miles on a portion of the Pamilico Sound on the Cedar Island Ferry across the sound to Beaufort, NC.  The trip took 2 hours.
The screwpile lighthouses 
were once very common  serving as aids to navigation along North Carolina's trafficked rivers and sounds




TOTAL STEPS MY CRAZY PEEPS CLIMBED 
THEY CLIMBED BODIE AND CAPE HATTERAS ON THE SAME DAY WITHIN IN A FEW HOURS OF EACH OTHER: STEPS CLIMBED 464

CURRITUCK STEPS CLIMBED 220

TOTAL STEPS CLIMBED IN A 24 HOURS PERIOD WAS 684!!!
YES THEY WERE SORE BUT SO HAPPY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY!!!

19 comments:

  1. My Mom and Dad are lighthouse fans BIG TIME. Did a whole Cape Cod kind of lighthouse hop tour several years ago. My Mom has done oil paintings of many of the lighthouses she captured on film in fact.....Your Mom and Dad had a grand trip didn't they?

    Hugs, Sammy

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  2. Wow, that is a lot of steps. Makes me tired to hear about it. Those light houses are just terrific. What fun to see them all. Sure sounds like you had a great trip.

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  3. My mom would love to climb all that steps with you ... she is a lighthouse fan and she would love to live in a lighthouse (with an elevatior, of course lol). have you seen my crib from the top of the lighthouse too? maybe that's possible when we have no waves and the ocean is as flat as a pancake?

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  4. A major stair steppin' day for Mom and Dad. Were they working on getting bums of steel Madi?

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  5. Light Houses are so darn cool and we much prefurr them to dark houses any old day!

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  6. Awesome lighthouses I wished we could have seen! Thank you for sharing them, they are beautiful!
    Hugs and nose taps,
    Kathy and Molly

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  7. wow on the number of steps. it amazes me they could build lighthouss like this way back then. my favorite is the ronaoke pic.. this did not show up on feedly or by going to your blog, i found it in my dashboard by clicking on old post. no idea what is up today but i see people are coming here, but not as many as usual

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  8. O...M....D.....Mama's mouth is hanging open, and I am pretty sure she is panting!! BOL!! These are gorgeous photos and the lighthouses are just beyond words! West coast lighthouses are nice too...but the east coast lighthouses always have soooooo much more history!!!
    Thanks Madi, for letting your Mama but this silly smile on our Mamas face....in fact, this might be a great time to hit her up for cookies!!
    Smileys!
    Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo

    PeeEss...Mama says this didn't show up on her reader or on google. You might want to have your Mama try going into the edit option and update it....cause Blogger is being a BIG booger and this post is just tooooooo beautiful for your readers to miss!

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  9. Beautiful lighthouses!! How pawsome that your Mom and Dad climbed them too!!!

    The Florida Furkids

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  10. We love hearing the history of these lighthouses, Lee is a history buff. No need for a stairmaster exerciser when you have lighthouses for climbing. We would love to see their light b night.
    Thanks for being a friend
    Sweet William The Scot

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  11. Gweat fotos. Have a gweat day.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Lexi

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  12. Wow those are beautiful!! All that climbing is crazy but it would be so cool to see that. Thank you for sharing these pictures.

    Ziggy Out!!

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  13. Great photos. I like lighthouses, but I don't think I would have done all those steps- I am impressed that your folks did.

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  14. WOW, that's a whole bunch of lighthouses! I wish I could've seen that lighthouse traveling on a train!

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  15. What a fun trip to see all those lighthouses. We loved reading about all their history.

    Woos - Ciara and Lightning

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  16. madi....thanx for de linx bak two thiz post coz we could see yur fotoz but could never get two yur post....we loves lite houzez ....we could sew live in one...how kewl wood that bee !!! we gotta say we like de Currituck de best .....how awesum yur mom & dad getted ta see them !! ♥♥♥

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  17. That's beautiful. SHE used to be so confused when SHE found out Roanoke VA is so far inland.....Always heard about Roanoke in history--first colony and stuff.

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  18. The lighthouses are very interesting. I saw them in my reader but couldn't get to this post at the time because it said it was unavailable. I am glad it has posted now.

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  19. The lighthouses are just beautiful and we love reading all of their history!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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Cecilia and Angel Madi
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