Only 3 of NC’s lighthouses open for climbing this year
If you’ve ever walked the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore at night and seen the stars spread like glitter on a black velvet sky, imagine how much darker it must look to seafarers trying to navigate North Carolina’s irregular coastline miles offshore.
Beginning in the late 1700s, the federal and state governments installed some
two dozen lighthouses along the North Carolina coast
to help mariners navigate the treacherous shoreline in the dark.
Electronic navigation and other tools have made much of their work nearly obsolete, but a half-dozen shining sentinels remain, appealing as much now to landlubbers as to seamen.
Each year, vacationers flock to the structures in hopes of climbing to the top for a view that, in some ways, is the same as it was a century or more ago.
But anything constantly exposed to salt, water, wind and public use eventually needs repair, and two lighthouses are getting some work done this year, meaning they won’t be open for climbing. A third hasn’t been open to climbing since the last keeper left in the 1950s.
Here’s an update on which N.C. lighthouses are open to the public and whether visitors will be allowed to ascend their swirling staircases in the summer of 2024.
BODIE ISLAND LIGHT STATION
Open for climbing when the season begins April 19, closes in October
Address: 8210 Bodie Island Lighthouse Road, Nags Head, NC 27959
Pronounced “Body,” this is actually the third iteration of this lighthouse. The first, built on shifting sand, listed to one side and had to be demolished. The second was destroyed by departing Confederate troops to keep Union forces from using it as a lookout during the Civil War.
This brick tower, painted in horizontal black and white stripes, was built in 1872 on the Roanoke Sound side of Hatteras Island and reaches 156 feet into the air. It’s between the
town of Nags Head and Oregon Inlet, within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and has been open seasonally for a self-guided climbs since a fouryear renovation was completed in 2013.
The lighthouse has its original first-order Fresnel lens. There are more than 200 steps to the top, so look at the guidelines on who should try to make the climb.
Tickets, which cost $5 to $10, are required to climb Bodie Island Lighthouse and must be purchased online from www.recreation.gov after 7 a.m. on the day you plan to go.
CAPE HATTERAS LIGHT STATION
Closed for climbing until summer 2026, but the twostory Museum of the Sea and onsite gift shop are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and rangers will continue to conduct programs at the site.
Address: 46379 Lighthouse