NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Anyone heading to the Bodie Island Lighthouse near Nags Head on the Outer Banks this fall will find the station open but its boardwalk and observation platform fenced off. Cape Hatteras National Seashore started a rehabilitation job on both on Nov. 2.
The park expects the work to take roughly 120 days and to wrap up this winter if the weather cooperates. Crews are tearing out worn boardwalk planks, metal cables and their fittings, pile wraps and the framed seating under the covered area. The railings are being repaired and put back, and the fiberglass pilings are getting a tougher coating meant to hold up better against sun and salt weather.
People visiting during the project should plan around construction equipment, workers, temporary barriers and changed walking routes near the work zone.
The boardwalk leads out over the freshwater marsh that surrounds the light, a setting the park describes as tall pines and wetland rather than open beach. The current tower is the third Bodie Island Light. The first, a 54-foot tower, started leaning and was abandoned in 1859, and the second was blown up by retreating Confederate troops in 1861.
The two earlier towers stood south of Oregon Inlet on what is now Pea Island. The light that stands today sits on a 15-acre tract north of the inlet that the government bought for $150, and crews used gear and materials left over from the Cape Hatteras lighthouse job to build it.
Its beam still sweeps the water every night over the stretch of shoals sailors long called the Graveyard of the Atlantic, which is a big reason the grounds draw steady traffic from visitors year round. Park officials say the repairs are aimed at keeping the boardwalk and platform safe and usable for years to come.
