TOP: 



Site manager 

 Skellie Hunt 

 surveys the 

 foundation 

 work. 

 MIDDLE: 

 Braces support 

 the lighthouse 

 prior to the 

 move. 

 BOTTOM: 

 This aerial, 

 looking south, 

 shows the 

 current 

 lighthouse 

 location and 

 the move 

 corridor to the 

 new site, 

 nearly 3,000 

 feet to the 

 southwest. 



The 1980s were marked by damaging 

 storms and a controversial report by the 

 National Academy of Sciences recom- 

 mending that the lighthouse be moved. The 

 debate continued through the 1990s. 



Congress eventually approved funds 

 for the relocation, which is attracting 

 worldwide attention. The park service 

 expects the lighthouse will reopen for 

 public use by Memorial Day 2000. 



But moving the lighthouse will not 

 quell the debate on erosion control for the 

 Hatteras Island beaches, according to 

 Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant 

 coastal engineering specialist. 



"The issue of maintaining a groin 

 field will not go away," Rogers says. 



Some people believe the groins — 

 walls built into the sea perpendicular to the 

 beach, in an effort to trap sand and stall 

 erosion — have protected homes and 

 businesses in Buxton. 



The park service does not plan to 

 maintain the groins. If a hurricane or 

 nor'easter pummels the structures, 

 damaging them more than 50 percent, 

 residents and county officials could be sent 

 scrambling. State regulations do not allow 

 for new construction or replacement of 

 hardened structures on the oceanfront. 



"The guidelines are pretty clear," says 

 Steve Benton of the N.C. Division of 

 Coastal Management. 



Exceptions have been made to protect 

 historical structures, such as Fort Fisher 

 and the Hatteras lighthouse. But if the 

 Hatteras landmark is no longer vulnerable, 

 the issue will be placed in a new light, m 



For more information on the Cape 

 Hatteras lighthouse relocation schedule, 

 call the National Park Service visitors' 

 center at 252/995-4474 or check the 

 park's Web site at www.nps.gov/caha/ 

 lrp.htm. 



