27 July 2022 | Published By: Hotels OBX
By Jennifer Levine, Assistant General Manager
You will find three lighthouses close to both of our beautiful oceanfront hotels. These are all an easy drive from either location and will provide you with a more extensive insight into their historical part in The Outer Banks’ maritime life.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
The most “famous” one is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This lighthouse, located South of Nags Head in Buxton, NC, is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. It stands at 198.49 feet and has 269 steps to climb to the top. The original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built to warn ships traveling near the Cape of the Diamond Shoals. This is a series of sandbars made even more dangerous by the meeting of the Gulf Stream and the Virginia Drift. Before the lighthouse was built, thousands of ships were destroyed, leading to the nickname for the waters off Cape Hatteras to be called the Graveyard of the Atlantic. The current lighthouse was built in 1870 and moved from its original location in 1999, and its light can be seen for over 16 miles from shore.
Bodie Lighthouse
Moving North from Cape Hatteras, the next Outer Banks lighthouse is Bodie (pronounced Body) Island Lighthouse. This year is its 150th year being operational. It is located on the Albemarle Sound, about a 10-minute drive from Comfort Inn South Oceanfront. The current light tower is actually the third lighthouse for this location. The first lighthouse was 54' tall and was taken down after it started leaning due to the sand, and the repairs became too costly. The second lighthouse was 80’ tall and was blown up and destroyed during the Civil War for fear that the Union soldiers would use it. Today’s Bodie Island Lighthouse is 84’ tall and sports the largest, original Fresnel lens on the East Coast. Bodie Island Lighthouse is open seasonally for climbing, but appointments are required in advance.
