Lighthouse Ready Made for Memories

Don Bobbitt walked to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for a stellar view and a special memory.

“I was here as a child with a church youth group and my dad, a Methodist minister, in August of 1975. We went up in the lighthouse together and climbed all the way to the top.”

It was one of the last places they went together. His father died a month later.

The nation’s tallest lighthouse was closed in 1984, its balcony and iron steps deemed unsafe. But interest in the seaboard sentinel did not dim.

Last year, Congress decided to strengthen the historic structure; workers completed a $1-million renovation in March.

The brick lighthouse reopened to the public in May and up went Bobbitt--268 steps up.

“I felt (my father) was up there with me,” said Bobbitt, 34.

The 123-year-old lighthouse, painted on the outside with zebra stripes, stands 208 feet tall and has a signal that can be seen for about 50 miles.

After the renovation, the National Park Service was hesitant to reopen the Outer Banks’ loftiest perch to an expected 2,000 visitors a day. So its park service overseer, Thomas Hartman, issued a challenge: He would reopen the lighthouse if the public would help protect it.

People responded from Georgia to Virginia.

Thirty-two people donated at least a weekly four-hour shift, and the Park Service decided it had enough lighthouse watchers to reopen a balcony too.

Bob Burns, 71, of Boone bought a second-hand camper, arranged to be away from his wife Tuesdays through Thursdays and drove five hours to the ocean.

“I’ve driven by the lighthouse on trips, but I’ve never been inside it before,” said Burns, who will help guard the lighthouse three days a week all summer.

“I recently retired and I can’t turn off my motor. This will be a great opportunity for me to help preserve a historic resource,” he said.