Cape Hatteras

National Seashore
North Carolina

U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is one of North Carolina's, and indeed one of the nation's, most enduring landmarks. Travelers from all over the world visit the tower every year to marvel at its majestic architecture and its picturesque setting. In 1997 alone, nearly a quarter of a million visitors entered the lighthouse between Easter weekend and Columbus Day. These visitors often comment on the tower's proximity to the ocean's edge, and wonder what is being done to ensure the tower is not claimed by the sea.

In 1989, after many debates, studies and proposals, the National Park Service (NPS) made the decision to move the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse approximately one-half mile from its current location to an area less susceptible to the ocean's influence. This was not a decision that was made lightly or without controversy. Yet it is the position of the NPS that moving the tower is the most effective means of helping fulfill its Congressional mandate of preserving historic structures "for the enjoyment of future generations." Now, nearly a decade later, the President has asked Congress to fund the move in 1999.

WHY IS THE LIGHTHOUSE IN DANGER?

The key to preserving the 1870 tower is its "floating foundation". Yellow pine timbers sit in fresh water on compacted sand, with a brick and granite foundation on top of them. This foundation was built because pilings could not be driven through hard sand barely 8 feet below ground level when construction began. As long as the sand surrounding the foundation remains in place, and the timbers remain bathed by the fresh water in which they were placed in 1868, the foundation is secure. If a storm erodes the sand or the fresh water is disturbed by salt water intrusion, the timbers will begin to rot and the foundation will eventually fail.

Hatteras Island is a barrier island migrating westward. Since the 1930s, efforts have been made to protect the Lighthouse from the encroaching sea. The Coast Guard installed the first sheetpile "groins" (walls built perpendicular to the shore) to try to protect the tower. In 1936, however, they abandoned the lighthouse to the sea and moved its light to a skeleton steel tower in Buxton Woods. In the 1960s and 1970s, as the ocean continued to creep closer, various attempts to "stabilize" the coast included beach nourishment and three new groins installed north of the lighthouse. A severe storm in 1980 accentuated the island's westward movement washing away the foundation of the first (1803) lighthouse, which had been 600 feet south of the existing lighthouse. In 1803, that lighthouse had been one mile from the shoreline.

NPS officials considered various long-term protection options, including more groins, an encircling seawall, and relocation of the tower from the ocean's edge. The NPS requested the assistance of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists and engineers who advise the federal government on technical matters. The Academy's 1988 report recommended relocation as the most cost-effective method of protection. From 1988 to 1995, the relocation option was debated and discussed, with no funding requests made at the Congressional level or concerted fund-raising campaigns undertaken in the private sector. As Federal budgets became leaner, the NPS worked with the Army Corps of Engineers on a short-term (10-20 year) protection option to build a fourth groin south of the lighthouse. Officials hoped that it would protect the most vulnerable section of the lighthouse area, and would give the NPS time to raise Federal funds for relocation. However, North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission staff stated that it would not recommend a permit for building the fourth groin since placing any hardened structures on the North Carolina coast is prohibited by state statutes. In 1996 NPS managers initiated a concerted effort to begin the planning and funding process to move the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

MOVING THE LIGHTHOUSE

Moving great weights has become easier with the development of hydraulic technologies, and within the last five years, three lighthouses along the New England coast have been moved to reduce the threat of collapse into the sea. All were moved by the same basic method, and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse may be moved in a similar fashion.

International Chimney Corporation of Buffalo, New York relocated the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island, Rhode Island in 1993. The Southeast Lighthouse differs in design from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse; a keepers' quarters is attached to the lighthouse tower. After excavating around the base of the structure to expose part of the foundation, the engineers drilled through the foundation and inserted supporting steel beams to form a grid system. International Chimney's Mike E. Prible describes the moving process:

Following the transfer of the lighthouse load from its foundation to the beam grid ... 38 hydraulic lifting jacks [capable of lifting 60 tons each] were activated in unison and the entire structure was raised approximately 2 feet from its original elevation. The structure was then cribbed on oak timbers, tracks positioned below and parallel to the main beams, and the hydraulics for the jacks rerouted to three separate zones to allow for compensation on uneven surfaces during travel, i.e., no stress would be placed on the structure if a bump or soft spot was encountered...

Moving the Southeast Lighthouse to its new foundation was accomplished by using horizontally-mounted hydraulic jacks that push the tower along a track system in 5-foot increments. After the tower was pushed approximately 5 feet, the jacks were retracted and reset along the grid beams. Although this is certainly not a swift method of moving a structure, it has proven to be a safe and efficient technique.

When relocated, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will rest upon a new concrete pad foundation some 2,900 feet from its original location. Given the patience with which structures of this size are moved, the relocation process may take up to three months. The relocated tower will then stand 1,600 feet from the shoreline, which is approximately the same distance it stood from the sea when it was finished in 1870.

RELOCATION TIMETABLE

Congressional support has been, and will continue to be, essential for the relocation process. The $12 million price tag includes not only planning and design, but moving the associated Keepers Quarters buildings and the Oil House, plus preparation of the new site, reclamation of the original site, and installation of some of the infrastructure necessary to support visitation to the lighthouse following its relocation. The NPS proposed that the move be funded over a two-year period with a target date of late Spring, 1999 for the relocation itself. The initial $2 million was authorized in the fall of 1997, enabling a contractor to be selected and begin pre-move engineering. Meanwhile, time and tide continue to effect the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Only time will tell if this magnificent example of American architecture and engineering can be preserved.