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Bodie Lighthouse, North Carolina


The Bodie (pronounced body) Island Lighthouse was established in 1848, after hundreds of ships met their fate on the dangerous shoals off the waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks. So many ships were shipwrecked in this area, estimated over 600 in total.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse's history has been one of immediate difficulty and then perseverance.

The building of the first light tower met a delay of a decade while it was determined where the lighthouse would be established. When the location was finally set, a very cost conscience Auditor of the Treasury, Stephen Pleasonton, conflicted and knocked heads with the builder Francis Gibbons over how to build the lighthouse and what materials to use.

In the end the government had the final say and costs were cut everywhere including the light beacon chosen and the materials used in the lighthouse's foundation. As a result of this, within a a few years after completion the foundation of the original light buckled, and the lighthouse started to tilt.

Learning from the mistakes of the past, a second Bodie Lighthouse was built in 1859 with a very sound foundation and a Fresnel lens. Unfortunately, this light would see the start of the American Civil War a few years after it was established. In 1861, Confederate soldiers on a covert operation entered the lighthouse area and blew up the tower to prevent the Union Army from using this as a navigation aid or lookout tower.

Both of these first two light towers were actually established a few miles south of the lighthouse's current location, actually on Pea Island, and this original location since has given away to erosion.

Finally in 1872, the present day Bodie Lighthouse was completed courtesy of a $140,000 grant from the Federal Government. This present light was designed by architect Dexter Stetson, who also built the current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In the true historic heritage of this light, the present tower was also met with adversity right at the beginning as geese flew into the light tower and severely damaged the lens.



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