Hatteras Lighthouse & Museums

 Yay, Today we get to play! Steve doesn't see a leak & the batteries are holding, at least for now.

Our first jaunt was to the Hatteras Lighthouse. Very interesting story about this lighthouse.

When we visited the Co-Lightkeepers house, we learned that in 1803 the first lighthouse was built. Where it is now,  in the ocean!

They built the 2nd lighthouse in 1870. It was built 1500 feet from the water. By 1999 it was 120 feet from the water. They literally moved this lighthouse!! They shored it up & removed the brick base. They made rails & transported it. Then they kept it shored up & built a new brick base. This is one of the tallest lighthouses I've ever seen! They moved it about 3,000. ft. The Lighthouse weighed 4830 Tons.

They also moved the co-lightkeepers house & the Principal light Keepers house below.

The co-lightkeepers house was shared by 2 families. It is now a museum called "The Museum of the Sea"

 

Lighthouses were very important here. There have been nearly 3,000 shipwrecks off of the Outer Banks dating back to the 1700's There are continually shifting sands, hidden shoals & the colliding north-south current. They also get " Nor Easters " as well as hurricanes/tropical storms from Africa.

More displays about the crews at the Life Stations, who later became the Coast Guard.

During the second world War, German U Boats would mine the harbors & torpedo all types of ships off the outer banks.About 300 ships were sunk, most in 1942.

  The Civil War did not go well for the Confederates in North Carolina. They were the 9th & last state to join the Confederacy.

The USS Monitor sunk after the battle with a Union Iron Clad. Union forces took over the island & help for the Confederates never came.

The reason they chose the Confederate flag of today, was because the flag with the circle of stars representing the Confederate states with the red & white stripes was too close to

the Union flag

The displays were great.

Next stop was a bakery to pick up cinnamon rolls for Sunday while we drive up Island to church, Wright Bros. Monuments, & our next campsite. Here's a cute picture of the bakery.

This picture is of some of the homes on the island. A lot of the big homes are apartments.

I expected the islands to be more touristy. They may well be further north. The S. Carolina coast all along by Myrtle Beach had about 10 mini golf courses in a few miles & many of those huge 2 story resort wear shops. There isn't that much here. It is nice to see that the island is not losing its character. Maybe each town has one mini golf & a resort shop & some restaurants, but it is much lower key. All  residences & apartments are all in that Nantucket or Cape Cod shingle or wood siding type home.

Next up was the 2nd Museum, "Graveyard of the Atlantic" (scary name)

It pretty much covered the same things. Here are a few things that were salvaged from the newer wrecks.

This bell was salvaged from the Diamond Shoals Lightship. These ships would carry lights & bells to help ships in the fog or storms. This ship was sunk by a German sub

In 1918 WW1 but the crew was able to safely get to shore.

In World War 2, 1942, the Germans referred to the Outer Banks as a Turkey Shoot. They sunk over 300 ships in this war alone in the area. As the US discovered the Enigma code, & sent destroyers out after the U Boats the terrible numbers stopped.

There was a pirate section. Edward Teach known as Blackbeard terrorized merchant ships up & down the Virginia & N. Carolina coast.

Fishing was very important to the island. Some of the boats, & equipment.

The Fresnal Lens from the Lighthouse.

I'm going to send this blog & then will do a 2 day blog for Sunday & Monday.