HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. — Work continues on a $19.2 million project to restore the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The National Park Service along with restoration company Stone & Lime hosted a media tour of the progress on the site.
If you haven’t been near the lighthouse in a while, it’s quite striking to see the scaffolding that surrounds the entire structure.
“It’s a rainy day so we’re not windsurfing...so we decided to see what’s going on with the reconstruction,” said Rob Hewitt, of Ontario, Canada. “It was a shock to see the scaffolding up this year.”
Work on the structure itself is just one piece of the project. Construction crews dot the entire Cape Hatteras Light Station grounds. The project includes new pathways and landscaping.
Crews will also install a temporary beacon on top of the lighthouse while the project continues.
“This tiny beacon is going to project 18 miles into the ocean,” said Lindsey Gravel, quality control manager for Stone & Lime. “It’s U.S. Coast Guard approved and it goes on every seven and a half seconds and it flashes back off.”
Gravel said plans are still on track for the exterior work to be wrapped up next summer. But it will take longer for be able to climb inside the lighthouse again.
“With the unknowns, we don’t know what is going to happen,” Gravel said. “So the intent is to strip all the paint, assess all the cast iron in there, so it's safe for visitors, so we can be climbing it in 2026.”
Watch previous coverage: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse being restored during massive renovation project
For people visiting the site, like Woody Joyner of Hatteras Village, the work is worth the wait.
“You can’t let it deteriorate to the point of not being able to maintain it, just to allow people to climb it and things like that,” he said. "So it’s a bump and in a year or 18 months, it’ll be back and look beautiful again.”
In the meantime, the grounds and museum remain open, so you can see the progress of the work for yourself.
