Eroding Coastline Prompts Lighthouse Move
Over the last 10,000 years or so the sea level has been rising along the coast of North Carolina, sweeping its barrier islands westward. Powerful tides and shifting sediment have made the islands one of the most unstable landmasses on earth. Sitting atop the shifting sands is a historic landmark, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the U.S. at 200 feet tall, built in 1870. Despite protection from a front line of sandbags and seawalls, by 1987, the lighthouse was only 160 feet from the fast-approaching sea. Eventually, in 1999, the lighthouse was moved 2,800 feet away from the Carolina coastline. (This image, taken in 1999, shows the lighthouse at about the halfway point of its move along a specially constructed track.) The sea levels continue to rise. Erosion along Cape Hatteras has been at a rate of about 12 feet each year.