Along the Shore in North Carolina

We have stepped into several tourist stops and all of them have the Bodie Island Light on postcards or mugs.


Cape Hatteras National Seashore – comes the Bodie Island Light. Pronounced "body," the name, according to long held rumors, came from either the large number of unfortunate drowning victims washed up on shore or the supposed original owners of the land – you decide.

The structure you now see is the classic case of "third time a charm". The first, built on a shaky unsupported brick foundation in 1847, once competed with the leaning tower of Pisa for most vertically challenged building. Abandoned within less than 15 years of its completion, the second lighthouse’s upright time was even less.

Two years to be exact. During the Civil War Confederate troops, fearful of its potential usefulness to oncoming Union naval ships, blew it up in 1861.

The shoreline remained dark, until the present lighthouse was completed in 1872. Now at 156’ high, the light from its black and white horizontal striped structure can be seen for 19 miles.