TRAVELS, NORTH CAROLINA. Cape Lookout Lighthouse.

The Cape Lookout Lighthouse 

Monday (Labor Day 2018) some family members and I went to Cape Lookout Lighthouse. We loved  the boat ride to the seashore. I'm researching the material readily available online about visiting the lighthouse. The National Park Website lists different ways to reach the lighthouse. Here's the link:

https://www.nps.gov/calo/planyourvisit/ferry.htm 

If you plan a trip, visit the main National Park Service site.

We took water and grapes, since there's no concession stand or drink machine. We rode three miles to reach the barrier island of Cape Lookout National Seashore. On the way we saw some of the wild horses. (I'll tell you more about them another day.)

As we approached the lighthouse, we had the feeling of being on a boat with the lighthouse towering above.  The view is magnificent with the lighthouse sticking up like some kind of needle into the clouds. The water is pure blue with no evidence of pollution and no garbage on sea or land.

In the United States, we have only one lighthouse with diamonds in the design, and that's  Cape Lookout. I always thought the different designs of lighthouses were whimsical, but no, they are painted different ways to help ships and boats traveling in the daytime to know where they are. 

The diamonds also serve another important purpose. The points of the black diamonds point north and south, while the white diamonds point east and west.

Here's the view from the ramp:

We walked off the boat onto a ramp and followed the path to a little covered rest area with a gift shop close by. Then we sat and enjoyed our snack of grapes and cool water. 

The path to the lighthouse and the nearby museum is fascinating. In the direction toward the ocean, the sea oats are like frills of lace. The stately loblolly pines with their long lush needles reminded me of the loblollies we used to have on our farm in Mississippi. 

I asked the guide for permission to photograph some pictures inside the museum. She encouraged me to do so. Since the text in this photo is difficult to read, it is shown below:

A flashing light pierces the darkness hiding a hazardous shore, and a ship regains its bearings.

From early in the nation’s history the lighthouse beacon was the pulse of an evolving national system of coastal lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations.

To those who staffed them—keeping the lights burning rescuing the victims of shipwrecks—thousands owed their lives.

I took this photo with my cellphone from the base of the lighthouse. From not far away, it looks smooth, but up close it is possible to see it's made of brick. In fact, a small square had lost its paint, and we could see the red brick.

A group of younger tourists sat on the ground near the entrance as the guide instructed them about climbing to the top of the structure. Since it was a hot day, we decided not to climb the 207 steps. Maybe we can return some day when the weather is cooler.

An interesting Wikipedia article tells the history and technical aspects of the lighthouse. Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Go here to read about the early technology and the modern method of shining light to ships using electricity.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse offers help to save ships and lives in an area called the Horrible Headland, and the entire area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

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