Ocracoke Lighthouse To Close For Repairs
By Sue Clark on Jun 19, 2009 in News 
Print This Post
Light To Be Turned Off In Preparation
If you want to see the beam from the Fourth Order Fresnel lens atop Ocracoke Lighthouse, North Carolina, you’d best plan to do so before July 11. That’s when the Coast Guard will be turning off the light in anticipation of the much needed repairs to the interior. The light itself will be off for about sixty days, with actual restoration work beginning around the first of August. During this time the lighthouse will be closed to the public, and only viewable from the end of the boardwalk.
Besides the Coast Guard giving out a local Notice To mariners, the Park Service is letting local residents also know that the light will be extinguished. In a story at Pilot Online, Kenny Ballance, the Park Service district ranger at Ocracoke, said, “That’s sort of their night light. So I’ve been preparing them.”
First Time in Ten Years For Interior
This iconic lighthouse, the oldest continuously operated lighthouse in the state, only recently opened to the public for viewing inside. Unfortunately, it has not been able for climbing to what has to be a beautiful view, but at least visitors could get a look at the interior, and photograph the spiral stairs. The outside is in great shape, but the interior hasn’t had anything done to it since at least 2000, when the Coast Guard transferred it to the National Park Service.
Work will include restoring the metalwork on the 80 steps of the spiral staircase, mold removal, repainting the walls and cast iron, and installing new lighting protection. Doug Stover, historian for the National Park Service Outer Banks Group, said the decomposing brick clearly illustrates the need for maintenance. “You have this brick dust that’s always on the floor every morning.”
Perhaps with the addition of the lens protector, visitors may someday get a chance in the future to climb to the top. But the fact they couldn’t climb hasn’t stopped people from lining up as early as 6:00 am to go inside. In a four hour period last Fourth of July, there were 800-1200 people that went in,12 at a time, to view the free standing spiral stairs and perhaps get a peek through the top.
Be sure to check out the Hampton Roads story, it has a small slideshow showing the condition of the interior.
Photo Credits:
- Ocracoke Lighthouse by Shayne Hiles. Some rights reserved.
- Looking up inside Ocracoke Lighthouse by wwritter. Some rights reserved.
Keep up with Lighthouse News. Get articles by 
Email or in a 
Reader.
