Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Newspaper Articles

Reprinted by permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina

July 8, 1999

The News & Observer

Lighthouse puts hurdles behind

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Page: A3

BUXTON -- On the road three weeks, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse neared its new home Wednesday a safe 1,600 feet from the rough Atlantic surf - early and none the worse for wear. Unpacking and settling in will take weeks.

When the pushing ended late Wednesday, the nation's tallest lighthouse covered only 48 feet of the remaining 156 feet to reach the edge of the new concrete pad where it will perch. Incongruously, a stop sign was stuck on a post at the edge to remind workers where to quit pushing.

Since the move began June 17, the 208-foot-tall beacon has traveled 2,900 feet from its old home, where it stood a precarious 150 feet from the Atlantic's booming waves.

"It's all a series of hurdles," Skellie Hunt, project manager for the contractor, International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, N.Y., said Wednesday.

The lighthouse is expected to be eased onto a platform over the pad Friday or Monday, and crews then will build a new foundation around and beneath its base, a job expected to take two months. Hunt said the company will announce the platform schedule this morning.

The lighthouse once guided ships in the treacherous waters off Cape Hatteras, known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. But with the advent of electronic and satellite navigation, the beacon is seldom used. In preparation for the move, the light was extinguished March 1 for the first time since 1950.

The National Park Service plans to relight the 129-year-old lighthouse's twin lamps on Labor Day and reopen it to the public next Memorial Day.

Wednesday morning, while a work crew placed wooden supports called cribbing on the concrete pad, other workers prepared for the final push to the pad's edge.

Seven powerful hydraulic jacks pushed the 4,800-ton lighthouse, sitting on a pad of 100 Hillman rollers that resemble roller skates encased in steel, over parallel rails. Every few hundred feet, the rails the lighthouse had passed over were picked up and placed in front of it to traverse again.

The move was expected to take four to six weeks, but it took only three.

Officials said subcontractors were able to speed up the move by changing the way the push jacks were attached to the track beams behind the lighthouse.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 2

Index Terms:
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
NC
coast

Caption:
photo

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse joins its companion buildings, a pair of keepers' quarters (at top) near its destination - a concrete pad.

Staff Photo By Chuck Liddy

Copyright 1999 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: 1999188018 July 8, 1999

The News & Observer

Lighthouse puts hurdles behind

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Page: A3

BUXTON -- On the road three weeks, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse neared its new home Wednesday a safe 1,600 feet from the rough Atlantic surf - early and none the worse for wear. Unpacking and settling in will take weeks.

When the pushing ended late Wednesday, the nation's tallest lighthouse covered only 48 feet of the remaining 156 feet to reach the edge of the new concrete pad where it will perch. Incongruously, a stop sign was stuck on a post at the edge to remind workers where to quit pushing.

Since the move began June 17, the 208-foot-tall beacon has traveled 2,900 feet from its old home, where it stood a precarious 150 feet from the Atlantic's booming waves.

"It's all a series of hurdles," Skellie Hunt, project manager for the contractor, International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, N.Y., said Wednesday.

The lighthouse is expected to be eased onto a platform over the pad Friday or Monday, and crews then will build a new foundation around and beneath its base, a job expected to take two months. Hunt said the company will announce the platform schedule this morning.

The lighthouse once guided ships in the treacherous waters off Cape Hatteras, known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. But with the advent of electronic and satellite navigation, the beacon is seldom used. In preparation for the move, the light was extinguished March 1 for the first time since 1950.

The National Park Service plans to relight the 129-year-old lighthouse's twin lamps on Labor Day and reopen it to the public next Memorial Day.

Wednesday morning, while a work crew placed wooden supports called cribbing on the concrete pad, other workers prepared for the final push to the pad's edge.

Seven powerful hydraulic jacks pushed the 4,800-ton lighthouse, sitting on a pad of 100 Hillman rollers that resemble roller skates encased in steel, over parallel rails. Every few hundred feet, the rails the lighthouse had passed over were picked up and placed in front of it to traverse again.

The move was expected to take four to six weeks, but it took only three.

Officials said subcontractors were able to speed up the move by changing the way the push jacks were attached to the track beams behind the lighthouse.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 2

Index Terms:
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
NC
coast

Caption:
photo

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse joins its companion buildings, a pair of keepers' quarters (at top) near its destination - a concrete pad.

Staff Photo By Chuck Liddy

Copyright 1999 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: 1999188018