Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Tour

"Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Tour" is a segment of Carl White's Life in the Carolinas, which aired in syndication March 21, 2015

We travel today with Carl to Hatteras Island, home of the world famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Chris Cabral, Park Ranger, gives us a guided tour that begins with a 257 step walk up the lighthouse. There are eight landings separated by 31 steps. These provided a place to rest for the original lighthouse keepers who had to haul about seventy pounds of oil to the top of the lighthouse to keep the light on.

Cape Hatteras is nicknamed the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," and with good reason. Two major ocean currents meet at the cape, dumping a lot of sand. This creates shoals, or sandbars, making the waters treacherous, and many ships have been destroyed over the years.

A few hundred years ago, though, prates, took advantage of these shoals. Knowing that ships pursuing them would not venture through the currents, the pirates navigated to safety. Blackbeard, one of the most ruthless of all pirates, was eventually defeated and killed in the area in 1717.

Constructed in 1870, the lighthouse originally used a fresnel lens, manufactured in France. The lens was supported on a large disk that spinned using a clock weight device. The lighthouse keeper had to wind the weights every morning, much as one would wind a Grandfather clock. Today the fresnel lens has been replaced by an aerobeacon. It projects light twenty miles and flashes every 7.5 seconds.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, part of the National Park system, is open every day from mid April to mid October.

Carl White’s Life In The Carolinas is an Emmy nominated TV and award winning show in its sixth season. It airs throughout the Carolinas Check guide for air times. For more on the show visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com

Видео Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Tour канала LITCTV