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.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, standing 198.49 feet, is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. From 1803, when the first Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built, to today, it cast its light over the waters off the Outer Banks of North Carolina, also called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Its history--stretching from Augustin-Jean Fresnel's lens laboratory in France to the beaches of Hatteras Island where the lighthouse keepers labored--includes war, shipwrecks, hurricanes, and cutting-edge technology. Due to politics, funding, and its precarious location, it took great effort to erect and protect a lighthouse built on a barrier island. The supporters and caretakers were many, including Alexander Hamilton in the 1700s and children donating coins to a statewide preservation campaign in 1982. In the 21st century, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse continues to send out its beam to mariners.

"Retraces the great writer's footsteps to Hemingway's special places and records the recollections and insights offered by some of the people who remembered his visits"--Cover.

Of the over four dozen lighthouses that once marked the jagged shoreline of North Carolina, only nine still stand, watching over 300 miles of coast. These beacons are cherished monuments of North Carolina history. In addition to warning ships to safer waters, they now draw thousands of visitors each year. With this book, cofounders of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society Cheryl Shelton-Roberts and Bruce Roberts provide a well-researched, human-centered, and beautifully illustrated history of these towering structures. The authors offer stories—including the misadventures of Civil War spies and the threat of looming German U-boats off the North Carolina coast—that provide important context and meaning to the history of North Carolina's lighthouses. From Cape Fear to Currituck Beach, every still-standing lighthouse is lovingly described alongside their architects, builders, and keepers and the sailors who depended on the lighthouses to keep them from harm.

A history of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in the United States and the second tallest lighthouse in the world.

A stunning, full-color celebration of some of the world’s most famous lighthouses, the shoreline they stand on, and the people who have worked to protect them The lore and history of North Carolina’s seafaring past comes to life in the text by Cheryl Shelton-Roberts and photographs by Bruce Roberts.