- Name: Bodie
Lighthouse
County: Dare
Built: 1872
Operational: Yes
Body of Water: Atlantic Ocean, Roanoke Sound
Color: Black - White
Design: Horizontal bands
Height: 150 feet
Signal Visible: 19 miles
Click on the pictures to see a
larger view.
(Photo
courtesy of NC Division of Travel and Tourism.)
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Of all the early North Carolina
lighthouses, the Bodie Island Lighthouse had the rockiest beginnings.
Disagreements over the location delayed the building of the first
lighthouse for ten years. After one year, one side was a foot lower
than the other causing the lamp to stop functioning; attempts to prop
up the lighthouse were unsuccessful. So, in 1859 a 90-foot-high brick
tower was built as a new Bodie Island Lighthouse. In the early years
of the Civil War, this lighthouse was controlled by Union troops.
However, in 1861, Confederate troops slipped into the lighthouse and
blew it up. The current Bodie Island Lighthouse was built in the
model of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, except for having an exposed
granite base. Even this lighthouse had a difficult beginning. Soon
after it began operation in 1872, a flock of geese flew against the
light, breaking glass panes and damaging the lens. Today, the
lighthouse is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The
lighthouse itself is not open, but the old keeper's house is open as
a visitor's center and museum.
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