Bodie Island Lighthouse

Year Built

1847 (First) - 1859 (Second) - 1872 (Current)

Cost

$60,000 (current)

Type

Conical

Height

164.4 feet

Location

4 miles (6 km) north of Oregon Inlet, Near North Nags Head

Automated Year

1940

First Lit

1872

Lens Type

First order Fresnel lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White and black bands with black lantern house

Last Keeper - Date

Lloyd Vernon Gaskill (1919 – 1940)

Description

The lighthouse is open to the public.

Brief History

•  By 1859, the Bodie Island Lighthouse was deteriorated and the Lighthouse Board secured a $25,000. Appropriation from Congress to erect a new tower.
•  In the fall of 1861, Confederate troops stacked explosives inside the tower and blew it apart.
•  A third Lighthouse was completed in 1871 with material left over from construction of a new tower at Cape Hatteras.
•  The 164-foot tower’s first-order Fresnel lens, fabricated by Barbier and Fenestre of Paris, was lit on October 1, 1872.
•  In October 2013, the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society held a Keepers’ Descendants Homecoming at Bodie Island Lighthouse to honor the keepers who served at the station.