May 4-6, 2001

Are you a Cape Hatteras Keepers direct descendant? (child, grandchild, great grandchild, great-great grandchild, and spouses).

If so Register On-line today!

Media inquiries about the Hatteras Keepers Descendants Homecoming should be directed to Bruce Roberts. Direct descendants interested in receiving an invitation and sharing information on a Keeper's family can email hattkeep@outer-banks.com or register on-line [general inquiries should be directed to bparrish@outer-banks.com], or call 252/995-6891.

Descendants, donors, and interested individuals may write the executive planning committee at Hatteras Keepers Descendants Homecoming at P.O. Box 550 Buxton, NC 27920 or visit the website for indepth descriptions of the event and related activities:

Hatteras Keepers Descendants Homecoming
http://www.outer-banks.com/hatteraskeepers/

Lighthouse Tour

Driving Directions to all North Carolina's Lighthouses
Cheryl Roberts
ANNOUNCEMENT
MOREHEAD CITY, NC

Most people visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina want ot visit at least one of the lighthouses. The Outer Banks Lighthouse Society has prepared a Driving Tour from north to south along coastal North Carolina.

Of the existing towers you have a choice of seven lighthouses to visit, and you can see the ruins of an eighth light. Theses lighthouses are so interesting days can be spent in the surrounding area of each one. You are invited to visit a lighthouse soon.

After a long and tedious legal process, the U.S. General Services Administration officially transferred the Bodie Island Lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to the National Park Service (NPS) on July 13, 2000. The USCG will maintain the lighting apparatus, as Bodie Island remains an active aid to navigation.

Photos Courtesy of Bruce Roberts

The 1872 black and white banded lighthouse, the third tower on Bodie Island, stands 156 feet tall, and is situated on the northern end of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Surrounded by park service land, this lighthouse and its pastoral setting has gained in popularity in recent years, now hosting over 2,000 visitors a day. The NPS restored the Double Keepers Quarters during the 1990s and it now serves as a bookstore and museum.

Photos Courtesy of Bruce Roberts

In 1872, the present tower was completed one and one-half miles to the north of the first two sites, and it has been hailed as one of America's finest lighthouses. Today, however, aging mortar and ironwork threaten its future. The same restoration work completed on the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in 1990-91 by the National Park Service and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in 1999-2000 by the Outer Banks Conservationists, Inc., is direly needed at Bodie Island. As a precautionary measure, the NPS has installed a safety fence to keep visitors from walking directly under the failing ironwork at the top of the tower. The Outer Banks Lighthouse Society has supported an effort to gain restoration funding as soon as possible. The NPS requested $1.7 million to completely restore the lighthouse, but the funding request may not make the President's 2002 budget. Regional NPS officials at the Atlanta district headquarters report that the restoration project has not been chosen as a priority park budget item.

An effort continues to gain the restoration funds to completely restore Bodie Island Lighthouse.

Outer Banks At A Glance

Staff Report
FACTS
OUTER BANKS, NC

Here's where to find the Outer Banks basics: