Carr tells the story of the noble lighthouse from its earliest history to details of the 1999 relocation of the treasured landmark. For now, North Carolinians have succeeded in protecting their lighthouse as it has protected thousands of sailors for over a century. 32 halftones. Maps.

2nd EDITION. UPDATED AND EXPANDED. (HARDCOVER PUB. 2019, PAPERBACK 2020) Among America's coastal icons, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse ranks at the very top, alongside the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge. The other two are in major metropolitan areas. The lighthouse is on a fragile, 50-mile-long, two-thirds-of-a-mile-wide island 30 miles out to sea. Those who visit Hatteras understand they're decidedly in the ocean and only marginally on land.For a remote patch of real estate with a year-round population of little more than 3,000, Hatteras has witnessed extraordinary history. It may have been the destination of the Lost Colony. Blackbeard likely hobnobbed with the locals. The Monitor went to its watery grave nearby. Radio towers on the island made history's first transmission of music and received the distress call from the Titanic. Billy Mitchell proved the ascendancy of air power by sinking a pair of mothballed battleships offshore. Bodies washed up on the beach following U-boat attacks during World War II. The surfmen at the island's lifesaving stations made some of the most heroic rescues ever.But Hatteras Island: Keeper of the Outer Banks is more than a history. It is rather, as author Ray McAllister says, "a conversation with an island." It tells of a vacation paradise that can change instantly into a storm center, of a resort island kept largely free of development-but hardly of controversy-by a national seashore park. It tells of the hardy few who brave the Hatteras winters, those who come to catch record-sized fish from the piers, those who travel disaster-prone Highway 12 and who drove the bare sand before it, those who stood and watched as a 208-foot lighthouse was moved half a mile."Pull up a chair," McAllister says. "Have a listen."

New archeological discoveries may finally solve the greatest mystery of Colonial America in this history of Roanoke and Hatteras Islands. Established on what is now North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, the Roanoke Colony was intended to be England’s first permanent settlement in North America. But in 1590, the entire population disappeared without a trace. The only clue to their fate was the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. For centuries, the legend of the Lost Colony has captivated imaginations. Now, archaeologists from the University of Bristol, working with the Croatoan Archaeological Society, have uncovered tantalizing clues to the fate of the colony. In The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island, Hatteras native and amateur archaeologist Scott Dawson compiles what scholars know about the Lost Colony along with what scholars have found beneath the soil of Hatteras.

Since 1871 the Cape Hatteras lighthouse has been a welcome sight for sailors entering the treacherous region off North Carolina's Outer Banks known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. At 208 feet high, it is the tallest lighthouse in the country and one of the state's most famous landmarks. Through the years, it has withstood the ravages of both humans and nature, weathering numerous violent storms and two wars. But perhaps the gravest threat the structure faced in recent history was the erosion of several hundred yards of beach that once stood between it and the ocean. As powerful tides and rising sea levels increasingly endangered the lighthouse's future, North Carolinians debated fiercely over how best to save it, eventually deciding on a controversial plan to move the beacon inland to safety. First published by UNC Press in 1991, this book tells the story of the noble lighthouse from its earliest history to the present day. In this new edition, Dawson Carr details the recent relocation of the treasured landmark. For now, it seems, North Carolinians have succeeded in protecting their lighthouse, as it has protected them for over a century.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore was authorized by Congress on August 17, 1937, and established on January 12, 1953. As the nation's first national seashore, it encompasses 30,000 acres and crosses three islands, Bodie, Hatteras, and Ocracoke, for approximately 70 miles. Nearby Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, located within the authorized seashore boundary, is 5,880 acres. Over the centuries, the seashore has witnessed major historic events, including the landing of the first English explorers, the death of Blackbeard the pirate, Civil War battles, German U-boat attacks, hundreds of shipwrecks, and devastating hurricanes. Descended from horses brought over by Spanish explorers, the Ocracoke ponies still roam the landscape. This National Park Service unit also includes the majestic Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras, and Ocracoke Lighthouses. The seashore is a haven for wildlife and recreational beachgoers. Cape Hatteras National Seashore showcases the rich natural and cultural heritage of America's first national seashore.

Learn about Cape Hatteras National Seashore's history and varied attractions, as well as it's resident wildlife.