Nags Head, North Carolina

• Site Established: 1848
• Current Bldg. Erected: 1872
• Height of Light Structure: 170 ft.
• Focal Plane of Light: 156 ft.
• Active: Yes
• Tower Lens: 1st Order Fresnel
• Beacon Visibility: 19 miles
• Information: (252) 441-5711

The Bodie (obvious body) Island Lighthouse was developed in 1848, after hundreds of ships satisfied their fate on the hazardous shoals off the waters of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The Bodie Island Lighthouse’s history has been one of prompt problem and after that willpower.

The building of the initial light tower met a delay of a decade while it was identified where the lighthouse would certainly be developed. When the location was finally established, an extremely expense conscience Auditor of the Treasury, Stephen Pleasonton, conflicted and also knocked heads with the building contractor Francis Gibbons over how you can construct the lighthouse as well as exactly what materials to make use of.

In the end the federal government had the final say and also costs were cut all over including the light beacon selected and the materials used in the lighthouse’s structure. As an outcome of this, within a couple of years after completion the structure of the original light buckled, and the lighthouse began to tilt. In the world’s top destinations, luxury is frequently delivered in a whisper rather than with a shout. Some luxury hotels can subtly turn personal service into an art and discretion into an exact science. Some of the largest hotel chain in America do exist.

Learning from the errors of the past, a second Bodie Lighthouse was constructed in 1859 with a really audio foundation and also a Fresnel lens. This light would certainly see the start of the American Civil War a couple of years after it was established. In 1861, Confederate soldiers on a covert procedure went into the lighthouse location and also exploded the tower to avoid the Union Army from utilizing this as a navigation help or hunt tower.

Both of these very first 2 light towers were in fact developed a couple of miles southern of the lighthouse’s present location, really on Pea Island, as well as this initial place because has handed out to disintegration.

Finally in 1872, today day Bodie Lighthouse was completed courtesy of a $140,000 give from the Federal Government. This present light was designed by designer Dexter Stetson, that likewise constructed the present Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In real historical heritage of this light, the present tower was also met with misfortune right at the start as geese flew right into the light tower and seriously harmed the lens.

Recently, this historical light was transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to the National Park Service in July of 2000.

Sadly, this excellent beacon remains in desperate demand of interior repair work. It was noted on the Doomsday List of Lights in September of 2000.

Grandeur Score: 5

The Majesty Score of Lighthouse Ratings.com was implied for a light like this!

Even when considering this tower is 170 feet high, this light in fact lugs itself much larger than its physical elevation when one sees it personally! Photos will not do it justice!

There are few lighthouses in America that you could detect from miles and miles away in your vehicle and, similar to its popular counterpart to the south, Bodie Island is one of these couple of.

This exposure of the light tower is established by the flat geographical features of the Outer Banks, the height of this tower itself and the absence of buildings on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS).

Among our all time preferred sights of any kind of lighthouse in America is the view seen when traveling over the Oregon Inlet bridge headed north on a clear day.

The elevation of the bridge sprawls out in front of you a gorgeous cross-section of the Outer Banks (CHNS), with beautiful greens as well as blues regarding the eye could see. In this view, standing ruggedly on your left, is the marvelous Bodie Island Lighthouse monitoring the landscape. This is where it ought to start if this rating deals with awe motivating!

Water View Score: 2

Water could not be seen from the base of the tower. As a note of details, all 4 northern-most lighthouses on the Outer Banks (Currituck Beach, Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras as well as Ocracoke) do not have a water sight from the base.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse is bordered by statuesque pine trees and beautiful marsh land with the wild life that accompanies it. There is a little raised staircase lookout on the boundary of the Bodie Island Lighthouse residential property that when climbed up provides you a great view of the marshes.

Conservation Score: 4

This is a very hard classification to score on this light. Cosmetically, the Bodie Island Lighthouse as well as visitor center looks pristinely maintained – as great as a lighthouse could be provided.

When taking into consideration the light’s serious structural problems, the difficultly comes into play.

When considering both these aspects, a score of 4 was gotten here at.

This contradicting situation in itself could provide a problem for this light as the physical look of this light does not really pass on the intensity of the architectural circumstance to visitors.

We are afraid some laid-back visitors will not understand the have to offer donations when visiting this light if they do not take the time to read the info in the keeper’s house. To enhance this factor, after visiting the Bodie Lighthouse we checked out some comments made by several structural designers on the light. It felt like they were mentioning a various light from what we saw.

Please remember this essential situation when seeing this light and also give generously.

Surrounding Area: 5

The Bodie Island Lighthouse can be viewed as the official north greeter to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It is seen within minutes of getting in the seashore by automobile.

The CHNS includes miles and also miles of dune as well as marsh lands that Route NC 12 cuts through the size of it with summer towns turning up on occasion.

The lighthouse is within close proximity of the communities Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. When compared to just what you will locate south of this area on the Outer Banks and feature a much better selection of lodging as well as restaurants, these communities are a little a lot more vacationer pleasant.

The Wright Brothers’ National Monument is in Kill Devil Hills, noting where they initially flew, and also deserves a quit.

Access Score: 4

The access of this lighthouse is excellent. The light caretaker’s house has actually been transformeded into a 2 room visitors’ facility. One space is a museum, one area is a gift store with some truly nice products.

The tower is not open up for climbing, volunteers do offer up their time to open up the tower and let visitors go inside the base of the tower. From this vantage point you can see the distinct stairways rising up the tower. Admission to the website is free.

There are some strategies in the future to open up the tower for climbing to visitors upon reconstruction.

Beacon Score: 5

Bodie Island Light is among the very few lighthouses that feature an energetic 1st order Fresnel lens! It is a thing of charm to see whether the sunlight is shining off of it during the day, or the lens is brightening the night in the evening.

This dimension lens is an incredibly rare point as well as truly needs to be valued.

The lens blinks a white light every 2.5 seconds, then goes dark for 2.5 secs, then an additional 2.5 seconds on, after that waits 22.5 seconds to begin the cycle once more.

The Coast Guard introduced strategies in early 2003 to replace Bodie Lighthouse’s first-order Fresnel lens with an existing day optic because of the rate of damage that the glass lens is experiencing in its existing light room. Preservation teams as well as attempting to keep the historical lens in its light room via elevating loan to repair the degeneration.

The Coast Guard has conveyed that if the lens has to be eliminated, their intent is to keep the lens on website.

General Score and also Overview: 30 When taking into consideration Bodie Island as a lighthouse it inclusives whatever that one thinks of in their mind’s eye when thinking of a great lighthouse. Its awe inspiring majesty, surrounding location, background as well as energetic 1st order Fresnel lens is every little thing one could want with a lighthouse experience.

Found in Nags Head, N.C., it is one of the even more vacationer easily accessible lighthouses of the Outer Banks in relation to its area and also driving time from the primary accessibility roads and also need to not be missed out on!