Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Remains Closed
Repairs to the lighthouse force closure for second year in a row.
CAPE HATTERAS N.S., N.C.—The renowned black-and-white-
striped lighthouse at Cape Hatteras National Seashore will be closed for repair this summer, as it was last year—a disappointment for visitors and a financial blow to the park and area businesses.
The lighthouse has been closed since June 2001, when a piece of cast iron fell from its spiral staircase. The National Park Service (NPS) found cracks in many of the stairs and corrosion and rust on nuts and bolts.
Repairs will cost about $750,000, depleting most park program funds, officials said. The park also had to cut several seasonal interpreter and ranger positions to pay for the repairs.
NPS began charging fees for climbing the lighthouse before the stairs crumbled last summer, which was expected to yield about $500,000 a year.
No timetable has yet been set for the repairs, as congressional approval was still pending, but even the best-case scenario would mean closure until October.
However, park officials don't expect overall visitation to plummet, citing brisk sales at the nearby Eastern National Bookstore last summer while the lighthouse was closed.
"Our indications are that we are not losing visitation due to closure," said Mary Doll, public information officer for the Outer Banks Group of NPS. "Lighthouse visitors are still coming."
Last summer, business owners complained that the lighthouse closure hurt tourism. The lighthouse, constructed in 1870, attracts about 200,000 visitors a year. In 1999, it was moved 1,600 feet inland to protect it from the encroaching surf, at a cost of almost $12 million. The beach erodes roughly ten feet a year.
