H L. L ighthouse. ape. atteras. by arole arsh. CThe GALLOPADE INTERNATIONAL. Illustrations by Rick Ullom

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2 CThe ape H L atteras L ighthouse C M by arole arsh Illustrations by Rick Ullom GALLOPADE INTERNATIONAL Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 1

3 Table of Contents A Word From the Author Changing, Changing, Ever Changing: The Geography of Cape Hatteras A History of Hatteras Island I Think I See the Light!: A History of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse The Fantastic Fresnel Lens! Keepers of the Light A Tall Order!: The Decision to Move the Cape Hatteras Light What I Did on My Summer Vacation Ode to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse! A Day in the Life of a Lighthouse Keeper s Kid! Lighthouse Math Problems to Solve for Fun! A Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Timeline Appendix of Additional Resources Glossary About the Author Index Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 3

4 Changing, Changing, Ever Changing: The Geography of Cape Hatteras Into three major regions that s how North Carolina is divided geographically. On the western side of the state, you have the mountains. The center of the state is called the Piedmont. The eastern part of the state, all the way down and into the sea, is known as the Coastal Plain. The Coastal Plain is part of a very long strand of beaches, islands, sand dunes, and offshore sandbars that run up and down the eastern United States, from New Jersey to southern Florida. Birth of the Outer Banks The long elbow of low, sandy islands that make up North Carolina s Outer Banks are part of the bottom of the sea left over from the prehistoric Ice Ages. The Outer Banks were formed about 20,000 years ago, when the sea level was much lower than it is today. Back then, what is today the state of North Carolina extended 13 miles (21 kilometers) farther into the ocean! As the polar ice caps began to melt, the ocean level rose. Thousands of years passed. During this time, silt from North Carolina s rivers piled up behind the sand dunes. As the water rose, the dunes were submerged. The ocean formed sounds and bays behind the underwater dunes. Over the centuries, the ocean rose more slowly. The tips of the dunes began to peek out from the sea. Plant life took hold, and the beautiful beaches we enjoy today were born. The tip of the Outer Banks elbow can be found at Cape Hatteras. This key geographical point jutting out into the sea was the perfect place to build a lighthouse! The Sea and Sand In Motion! Hatteras Island is one of the barrier islands that make up North Carolina s Outer Banks. Rising sea levels and water and wind currents are causing the island to slowly migrate, or move, to the southwest. When the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse you see today was first completed, it was about 1,600 feet (487.7 meters) from the ocean at high tide. However, due to ongoing erosion of the beach, the lighthouse found itself almost at the ocean s edge! Many things have been tried to keep the ocean and the lighthouse apart. Beach nourishment (pumping in sand) helped, but the sand was usually washed away during later storms. Walls, called groins, have been built along the shore to trap sand. Huge sandbags have been stacked up. Artificial seaweed was Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 5

5 planted to try to stabilize offshore sand. Millions of dollars have been spent on these efforts over the years. But the sea is a powerful force, determined, it seems, to claim the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for its own. The Outer Banks Today The Outer Banks protect the North Carolina mainland from some of the more drastic weather and erosion caused by strong winds and high seas. The narrow strips of islands themselves are often changed and even rearranged by wind-swirling, waterchurning, sand-shifting storms called nor easters (northeasters) and hurricanes. Year after year of turbulent weather has caused a great deal of erosion on the Outer Banks. Nowhere is this more true than at the vulnerable point of Cape Hatteras. In fact, the original 1803 lighthouse tower s foundation is now underwater! Today, the islands of the Outer Banks rise only about 12 feet (3.7 meters) above the ocean. The Outer Banks The skinny islands that make up the Outer Banks encircle North Carolina s coast like an elbow of sand. While they guard the mainland from the worst brunt of storms, the islands themselves often suffer from severe erosion of their beachfronts. How many hurricanes have tried to knock down the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse? More than anyone can count! Just a few of the more recent storms include Fran and Bertha, which may sound like nice, little, old grannies but they weren t! In 1953, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore was established to help preserve this fragile ecological area. It is a 30,000 acre (12,141 hectare) preserve. It was the first coastal park in America to be named a national seashore. If you visit this seashore, you will be welcomed by thousands of gulls, terns, other shore birds, and wildlife that make these shifting strips of sand their home. How Erosion Gobbles Up a Beach When ocean waves pound a beach, they pull sand back into the sea, causing an erosion of the shoreline. During strong storms, high winds can blow sand off the beach, allowing powerful waves to gnaw away at the shoreline until the beaches grow narrower and narrower. Accretion occurs when wind and water cause a build-up of additional sand on a beach. However, barrier islands often have accretion occur in locations other than the beachfront. People who own oceanfront property have been known to find themselves suddenly far from the sea (due to accretion), while (due to erosion) those who once had homes on the so-called second row discovered that they now owned oceanfront property! Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 6

6 A History of Hatteras Island In the 1500s, various Algonquian Indian tribes may have fished and crabbed on Hatteras Island or raked up oysters as large as a man s forearm. They may have collected some of the many beautiful shells which washed ashore on the beach. Of course, eventually, these early Outer Bankers were killed or run off by explorers and colonists coming to what they called the New World so they could make this land their own. Many of the Indians died from the white man s diseases, such as tuberculosis and smallpox, to which they had no resistance. The first English colonists and settlers who came to Hatteras spoke with a strong Elizabethan accent, like you hear at a play by William Shakespeare. Today, you can still hear this charming lilt in the language of the local people. You might ask, When is high tide? And they may answer, Hoigh toide will come just after noon. In the 1700s, quiet, peace-loving residents, trying to make a living fishing as the Indians once had, faced their own unwelcome visitors hotheaded, greedy pirates who used the puzzle pieces of islands to hide from fellow buccaneers as well as the law. During that era, you might have spied a pirate ship bottom-up on a sandbar with ragged sailors frantically scraping barnacles from the keel while keeping a sharp lookout for their enemies. The next 200 years provided a quiet fishing life for most locals, with occasional dramatic interruptions, such as the sight of German submarines offshore during World War II, the washing ashore of skeletons from wrecked ships, the spring passage of whales, a surprise winter snowfall (it happens!), a waterspout (sea tornado) whisking by, or the thundering attack of a powerful hurricane. And, of course, the building of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse! Today, Hatteras Island is still known for fishing, summer vacations by the sea, and that same beautiful black-and-white tower spiraling in the sky. Today, more than 20,000 commercial fishing boats haul in 290 million pounds (131.5 million kilograms) of fish and shellfish each year, primarily shrimp, blue crab, and flounder. When the blues (blue fish) are running, there is much excitement on the shore. In the spring, you can watch fishermen and women harvesting wave after wave of menhaden (fish used for fertilizer), either in nets pulled by tractors from the shore or on special boats which virtually vacuum them up! Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 7

7 Even Blackbeard, known as the Fiercest Pirate of Them All found his ship, The Queen Anne s Revenge, snared by the ever-moving sandbars of the Outer Banks. Why Are the Waters Around Cape Hatteras So Dangerous? The waters off Cape Hatteras are unique. The current of water known as the Gulf Stream reaches this part of the Atlantic Ocean. (Benjamin Franklin called the Gulf Stream the river in the sea. ) Just off Cape Hatteras, at Diamond Shoals, the Gulf Stream suddenly becomes very unpredictable, often going deep beneath the water and other times surfacing to wave level. When this warm current of water meets the colder Labrador Current coming down from the north, it often churns up a channel of stormy weather. Ships trying to navigate this tight squeeze could find the sailing very tricky, especially before the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built to help warn them off this rocky, shallow point. It has been estimated that more than 2,000 ships have wrecked off Cape Hatteras over the years! Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Word Search Word Bank lighthouse erosion North Carolina Fresnel lens beach ship fishing Outer Banks island piedmont Hatteras ocean dunes salt cape beacon keeper move legend F X T L I M U E R O S I O N S H T V I E S O K W C R P Q V N L D E G C O U R P E M A L W C I B Q H A T T E R A S F O N Y S A L T P V E K H N R O X P L L I M H E F R E S N E L I Z E A P C O W E B U F I S H I N G N I Z U P M A E R N S Z T Y E D E P S M V N O M B E A C O N W D M E O X K Q E Z U E T Y D A M E V X G S A K L E N S T B S O V K J M C R W Q P B E D W P N O R T H C A R O L I N A Z G T M V R E P E E K B I U F M T O R V D E M X T M W L D S A Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/ 8