Moving Cape Hatteras, Five Feet at a Time
In 1999, a brick lighthouse traveled 2,900 feet on steel tracks while sensors watched for movement in the tower.
On June 17, 1999, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse began moving away from the Atlantic. The brick tower remained upright as hydraulic equipment advanced it along a prepared track. Each push covered about five feet before the jacks were reset for the next one.
The Shoreline Came Closer
When the lighthouse was completed in 1870, it stood roughly 1,500 feet from the ocean. Erosion gradually consumed that buffer. By the late twentieth century, waves were reaching alarmingly close to its base.
Its foundation was part of the problem. The original construction used timber below the masonry, kept in stable conditions by the surrounding sand and fresh groundwater. Losing that supporting ground threatened the entire tower.
Engineers studied ways to protect the lighthouse in place as well as the possibility of moving it. Relocation eventually won approval. The plan covered the whole light station, including the keepers’ quarters and other small structures, so the buildings could retain their relationships to one another.
A Tower on Tracks
Workers prepared a support system beneath the lighthouse, raised it with hydraulic jacks, and placed the load on a steel framework. Rails and roller dollies allowed the tower to move without being dismantled.
Sixty sensors monitored changes including tilt, vibration, and the distribution of weight. A weather station at the top kept track of wind and temperature while crews worked below.
The journey took 23 days. On July 9, the lighthouse reached a new foundation 2,900 feet southwest of its original position. Other station buildings were already waiting nearby. The move put the tower back roughly as far from the ocean as it had been when first built.
The light returned to service that November. Its new site placed the keepers’ buildings near the tower again, preserving the layout of a station whose individual buildings had traveled separately.
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Sources & photograph
Adapted from the Hidden Here story catalog. Explore the historical records behind this story.
