Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the keeper’s quarters (to the left of the lighthouse). A permanent keeper used to live on the island and take care of the lighthouse full-time until the process became automated in 1950. | Picture by Ben McCormick
Story by Benjamin McCormick
Graphic by Brennen Tripp
Warning: You are about to enter the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
That’s the message the Cape Lookout Lighthouse signals to those at sea along North Carolina’s coastline. The lighthouse is located just off Harkers Island where it stands watch over the Cape Lookout Shoals, where the shallow water earned the shoals its foreboding nickname due to the threat of running aground and other difficult conditions sailors often face in the area, such as wind and a conversion of currents.
Cape Lookout has been helping sailors navigate those treacherous waters since it was constructed in 1859. But now, it’s the one in need of aid.
Nate Toering is the supervisory park ranger for the National Park Service and the chief of interpretation and education for Cape Lookout. He said that in 2021, an in-depth inspection check of the lighthouse unveiled a number of potential safety concerns, like wobbly stairs and rusting of structurally supporting cast iron. Those concerns sparked a larger investigation which exposed a need for extensive renovations that will impact nearly every part of the lighthouse down to the metal framing.
Renovations have not begun yet, but the inside of the lighthouse is currently closed due to safety concerns. The renovations are expected to begin by the end of the year and will take up to 24 months to complete. Toering said the NPS is hoping to reopen the inside of the lighthouse to the public by late 2026 to early 2027.
Due to the amount of renovations, the timeline is not definitive.
Neither is the cost. Toering said the renovations to the lighthouse are estimated to cost $12.5 million, but that amount could change based on the bids the NPS receives from contractors later this year.
While the project’s cost and timeline are still in question, it’s abundantly clear that the lighthouse is ingrained in the fabric of the community.
The iconic black-and-white checkers, or diamonds, that create the unmistakable pattern of the lighthouse can be seen up and down the island. The Harkers Island Fire & Rescue sign is adorned by its image. So is Harkers Island Elementary School. And there it is again on the Cape Lookout Vacation Rentals sign.
There is even a place of worship named Lighthouse Chapel with an image of Cape Lookout on a white sign surrounded by bricks. The picture of the lighthouse is placed just below the cross on the sign. And even in death, Cape Lookout dominates the imagery of this town. The sign for Piner-Gillikin Cemetery has a picture of Cape Lookout overtop a contrasting blue background.
It’s not just signs though. As you drive down Harkers Island, you can easily see water to each side of the road. Many tourists might have their heads on a swivel, looking to either side, and as they do, they will see mini versions of Cape Lookout proudly standing in resident’s yards. Some are only a couple of feet tall. Others are tall enough for the Fresnel lens, or light, of the lighthouse to make eye contact with their owners.
Education, emergency services, business, life, worship, death — all connected by a lighthouse.
“The lighthouse is definitely a beacon for the island people,” Kelly Davis, a resident of Harkers Island, said. “The islanders take a lot of pride in that lighthouse.”
From the Harkers Island Visitors Center, the lighthouse can be seen across the sound. Visitors can take a ferry to Cape Lookout National Seashore, where the lighthouse resides. The lighthouse is located on a natural barrier island system. Adjoined to Cape Lookout is Shackleford Banks, another naturally preserved territory that Toering said is home to 118 wild horses.
It’s not the easiest place to get to though.
Other lighthouses, like Cape Hatteras in Buxton, North Carolina, are visible from the highway, but Cape Lookout is not. Having a road system in place would certainly increase traffic to Cape Lookout, but that’s not ideal, Toering said. “I think it would kill the spirit of Cape Lookout to do that,” he said. “I think part of what makes us so special is that we are, for the most part, a natural barrier island system.”
Once at Cape Lookout, visitors can look up at all 163-feet of the lighthouse in all its glory — but they can’t go inside.
The park closed to the public in 2020 due to COVID-19. It wasn’t until it was ramping up for reopening in 2021 that the serious safety concerns jumped out. Toering said that basic inspections are conducted annually, so it’s not like the issues suddenly arose during the pandemic. However, a wobbly stair and some rusting of important supporting structures raised some red flags.
Not just any small amount of rust is enough to shut the lighthouse down to the public, Toering said. Because of erosion and wind slinging the salt water onto the lighthouse, rusting is inevitable and not always a cause for alarm.
“If some surface rust was like, ‘Oh, shut it down,’ we would be completely out of operation,” he said.
Once safety concerns were identified, the NPS brought in structural engineers to conduct a more thorough investigation. The engineers found more pressing issues that needed to be fixed, and soon the list of renovations had grown quite long. The renovations will also include some preventative maintenance.
“The work that we’re going to do is really comprehensive,” Toering said. “We’re leaving no stone unturned. It doesn’t make sense to just throw Band-Aids on a few things, right?”
Toering said there’s almost no part of the lighthouse that won’t have some level of work done. For the first time since the lighthouse first received its paint job in 1873, the paint will be stripped and replaced with new marine-grade breathable paint. The entire top portion of the lighthouse will be stripped as well. It will be reforged with all new metal and put back together.
Even the dock for the ferry is undergoing renovations. Right now the ferry has to gently dock directly on the beach.
The island itself is undergoing changes as well. Next Generation Logistics has been contracted for dredging to make the channels to Cape Lookout Shoals more easily accessible to boats and ferries. Some of the sand from those projects was used to replenish the beaches and protect the lighthouse and other structures from erosion. Toering estimated about 50,000 cubic yards of sand were placed on the lighthouse’s soundside.
Stanley Riggs, a marine geologist and emeritus professor at East Carolina University, said that the beach replenishment wouldn’t be necessary if it weren’t for the dredging. He said the severity of the erosion on the soundside of Cape Lookout is a direct cause of dredging Barden Inlet.
In 1933, the inlet was first opened by storms.The continued re-dredging coupled with shoreline erosion has caused the inlet to get wider over time.
The lighthouse used to be much further inland. However, that began to change when they began dredging, Riggs said. As long as the inlet remains open, Riggs warned that the lighthouse may have a larger change in store; it may eventually need to be moved entirely.
Riggs said a set of storms, or a large storm with the right conditions, could seriously damage the shoreline and threaten the lighthouse. One possible remedy to the erosion problem would be to stop dredging and allow the inlet to close, he said. That would allow the Cape to reconnect with Shackleford Banks.
Moving an entire lighthouse due to shoreline erosion has been done before. In 1999, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was lifted and moved nearly 3,000 feet. That level of change is not unheard of for lighthouses. The Ocracoke Light Station is currently undergoing serious renovation as well.
The upkeep of lighthouses is constant, but it is necessary due to the wear and tear from nature and Father Time.
If the lighthouse were moved, that wouldn’t be the first major change Cape Lookout has undergone. At one point, the lighthouse had to be torn down and built anew.
When the first iteration of Cape Lookout was constructed in 1812, it was short and dim. Toering said that mariners requested that it be torn down or taken off maps because they were looking for the light but couldn’t see the short lighthouse. The boats would run up on land before they noticed it. That promoted the construction of Cape Lookout as it is known today. Construction began in 1857, and it took two years to complete the structure.
The lighthouse, like all of the others on the Outer Banks, was plain brick with no paint job at first. In 1873, the government funded a project to give all the lighthouses along the coast a unique paint job.
Preserving and renovating the lighthouse and surrounding island continues to be an expensive and time-consuming process.
Because funding for the lighthouse is appropriated through Congress, that means the project is federally funded. Taxpayer dollars are being used to maintain what some might argue is an antiquated technology that has been rendered useless by radar and GPS.
Toering said that isn’t the case. While many vessels have GPS or radar built in, many still don’t. That is especially true for kayakers and people in small boats. Even if a boat has modern technology equipped, lighthouses can serve as a fail-safe, Toering said.
“If something goes wrong with your technology on your vessel, the lighthouse is going to be here,” Toering said. “You can look at your GPS and then reference the lighthouse. I know I am where it says I am.”
David and Brenda Flowers are from Lexington, North Carolina, and they recently made their first trip to Cape Lookout. The Flowerses disagree that the lighthouse serves no purpose anymore. Once on the island, they quickly garnered an appreciation for the quiet beaches and the importance of the lighthouse. Not only does it serve as a constant reminder that the coasts are dangerous, it’s historically significant, they said.
“Tax money well spent,” David Flowers said.
Whether or not it’s necessary, Dale and Debbie Hardison from Burgaw, North Carolina, believe Cape Lookout is absolutely worth the money. The Hardisons have come to the islands multiple times before, but they’ve never been able to go inside the lighthouse. That’s the vicious cycle of maintaining a remote structure that predates the Civil War — it constantly needs to be fixed.
But that doesn’t make the lighthouse any less valuable, according to the Hardisons. “You don’t want it to go away, it’s part of history,” Dale Hardison said. “You wouldn’t destroy the Liberty Bell because it doesn’t ring anymore.”
Depending on the weather, Cape Lookout’s light can be seen from around 15 miles out. Mariners can distinguish the lighthouse from its 15-second flash pattern at night. That unique pattern is what distinguishes it from all the other lighthouses on North Carolina’s coast. Its diamond checkered pattern is referred to as its daymark, because that’s how vessels can tell which lighthouse they are arriving at during the day. The diamonds double as a literal compass, with the black diamonds pointing north to south and the white diamonds pointing east to west.
If sailors arrive during the day, the diamonds can be used as a rough gauge for distance as well. Toering admitted it’s not an exact science, as more diamonds on Cape Lookout become visible, the closer you are.
The lighthouse is still a useful navigation tool for sailors.
Cape Lookout is a tourist attraction as well. Toering said that an estimated 500,000 people visit the park annually. However, not all of those visitors are there to see the lighthouse specifically. That number is difficult to project as well. If somebody sails past on their boat, does that count as visiting? If the answer is yes, Toering thinks that number would be larger.
Even on a random weekday, the ferry might carry over a group of children on a field trip. It might carry over a couple who has never been to see the lighthouse before, like David and Brenda Flowers. Or, it might be bringing back longtime visitors, like the Hardisons.
“It’s a symbol of eastern North Carolina,” Toering said. “ I think a lot of the people in this area see it as much more than just an aid to navigation. It’s incredibly worth preserving not only as a historic component of this area, but as a pillar of this community.”
People from all over come to the lighthouse and appreciate the historical significance of the structure. The Hardisons said it doesn’t necessarily matter if it works or not, the history is enough.
And the money, well, the money’s not an issue according to Davis.
“How do you put a price tag on history?” she said. “It’s a big part of our infrastructure here on this island, and it’s needed for the economy, for tourism, for our local businesses. So, why would you risk damaging that?”
Outdated or not, residents like Davis understand the lighthouse’s impact on Harkers Island.
“Most islanders don’t go a day without riding to the end of the island to look at that lighthouse,” she said.
