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Bodie Island Light

Nags head, NC

Built in 1872, this magnificent lighthouse stands one hundred and sixty-five feet ASL.  She flashes a unique white light: 2.5 seconds on/off and then a 22.5 second eclipse twice each minute.  Her light is visible for nineteen miles and her identifying colors are black and white stripes.

This tower is the third attempt to build a lighthouse on Bodie Island.  The first was a poorly built structure that started to lean over and was finally abandoned; the second was simply blown up by the Confederate forces to keep it from the Union Army.  However, there were still problems; like flocks of geese smashing into the light and lightning strikes.  These were corrected, but keepers had some problems because the light was so far from civilization, that mothers and children lived in town, near schools while the keeper stood guard at the isolated lighthouse.

It wasn't easy being a keeper.