We visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse today, which involved a lengthy walk up to the top. It was disappointing to discover that the National Park Service seems to be steamrolling through the removal of the lighthouse’s light pedestal — on which the great light is perched — to go on permanent “loan” to a private museum down the road, a newly-constructed building that’s located within spitting distance of the ocean with absolutely no protection from hurricanes. If you find this as alarming as I do, contact Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-03) and express your opposition. If you’re in the habit of visiting the Outer Banks, be sure to let him know that.
Beautiful picture.
I remain astounded at your range of interests.
Waldo, thanks for alerting us to this…I’m a lifelong lover of the Outer Banks and have climbed the lighthouse many times….I will click the link and express my indignant opposition…thanks for the cool photo….
Thanks! I took sixty photos today, and this was the only one that came out half-decent. :) So it goes. I’m hoping to take one good photo each day, which is admittedly a lofty goal, but I’ll give it a whirl.
I have one that is very reminiscent of this, but inside Bodie Island Light, which you can’t get within 25 feet of anymore. I was disappointed when I went down for vacation in July. Mine is of a scalloped steel staircase, looking upwards inside.
I have talked with the rangers at Bodie, and they say it is only a matter of time now where facilities like these will have to close due to being starved for funding.
I also have a photo very reminscent of this, and Waldo is in it.
http://flickr.com/photos/jaquith/261536643/
I thought you should know that the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum was built above the 500 year flood plain, has foot-thick concrete walls that extend 10 feet below grade and has a roof that is designed to withstand sustained winds of 135-mph and gusts to 200-mph. I think it’s more than capable of protecting the lens and pedestal from the lighthouse. You should also know that the lens was vandalized by residents of the lighthouse’s surrounding community between 1936 and 1949 and they are currently in possession of more than half of the glass. The delicate clockwork mechanisim of the historic 1854 pedestal appears to have been destroyed accidentally by a Lighthouse Service engineer in the 1930s. Since then it has been neglected and ignored and painted with dozens of coats of gray paint. We are working hard to put it in a place where visitors can admire it all year round in all kinds of weather and by people who are not physically able to climb the lighthouse where they would have been hurriedly shuttled past the artifact so that they could have their 5 minutes out on the balcony. Now what’s so terrible about that?