Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

In the summer of 1999, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse began a journey across the sand. The 4,830-ton brick tower was lifted from its foundation and moved 2,900 feet inland, five feet at a time, on hydraulic jacks and steel track. The National Park Service had decided that moving the lighthouse offered the best chance to preserve it as the shoreline continued to erode.

The current tower was built in 1870 on Hatteras Island. Its location helped mark a treacherous stretch of coast near Diamond Shoals, where currents and sandbars complicated passage into and out of the Atlantic. Mariners had long relied on lights along the Outer Banks, but coastlines shift. By the late twentieth century, erosion had brought the ocean close to the lighthouse’s base, and cracks had appeared in the tower. Earlier measures, including attempts to protect the shoreline, could not resolve the long-term risk.