THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408240751
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUXTON LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
For 124 years, the spiral-striped lighthouse at Cape Hatteras has helped guide seamen through the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Its beacon has beamed hope to sailors more than 20 miles out in the ocean. Its black and white bands have been a welcome landmark for watermen navigating around North Carolina's treacherous Outer Banks.
In the past decade, however, the great structure has become dingy. Salty sea spray has besmirched its brick exterior. Hurricane-force winds have caused its paint to peel.
But the most famous lighthouse on the East Coast is about to become brighter. With a federal appropriation of approximately $100,000, the Coast Guard plans to contract workers to wash and repaint the outside of the 208-foot tower sometime this winter.
About 2,000 daily visitors should appreciate the face lift.
National Park Service employees say it's about time the country's oldest brick lighthouse received a much-needed makeover.
``That lighthouse has needed a paint job for about nine years now,'' said Park Service Ranger Rany Jennette, 73, whose father was the last principal keeper of the Buxton beacon. ``There's not a day that goes by that someone doesn't ask when it will get repainted. Tourists say it looks terrible.
``It's in worse shape now than I've ever seen.''
Although the National Park Service owns and operates the lighthouse, the Coast Guard is responsible for its navigational aids: the light and exterior markings.
In 1873 - three years after a beacon first beamed from the 248-stair structure - the North Carolina Lighthouse Board decreed that the exterior of the Outer Banks' five lighthouses should be painted in different, distinct black and white patterns so that ships' captains could easily differentiate the landmarks from sea.
``Ideally, we would repaint it every six years,'' said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Brian Zane, whose Buxton office oversees the tower. ``Right now, its condition is not a hindrance to navigational aids. You can still see it at sea.
``But for cosmetic purposes, it needs to be brightened up a bit.''
Coast Guard and Park Service personnel had hoped that the Outer Banks icon would be repainted last winter. About $600,000 had been earmarked for cleaning, painting and repairing the lighthouse. But when Hurricane Emily destroyed six Coast Guard houses last year, the funds were diverted for more serious problems.
Last month, Zane and others wondered when money would ever again be set aside for the lighthouse paint job. But about two weeks ago, they received the good news. Work should begin by late 1994.
``We have not yet finished negotiating the contracts for this project,'' Lt. Nona Smith of the Coast Guard's Portsmouth office said Monday. ``But money has been set aside for fiscal year 1995, which begins in October. We hope to have it all completed by next summer.''
The Cape Hatteras lighthouse was last painted in 1982 for $18,500. Original estimates for the most recent upkeep were about a half million more than the current appropriation. But Zane said $100,000 will do the job.
``They were going to blast and strip paint off the tower with walnut shells, then do some mortar and brick repairs before the painting. I bet they settled for just a water blast to clean off the salt spray. And, of course, a coat of paint,'' Zane said. ``It's still good news to me.''
When Jennette's father ran the beacon, four men climbed in a wooden paint box whenever the outside needed sprucing up. Block and tackle suspended the contraption from the tower's iron railing. The men painted by hand with long-bristled brushes.
This winter, workers from a private contracting firm will perform the job from sturdy scaffolding. They'll wash the structure clean. Then spray paint the stripes.
``We don't know how long it will take yet or when work will officially begin,'' Zane said. ``All we know is that the lighthouse will be repainted. We're all just tickled to death.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
The 124-year-old Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will be painted over the
winter. The Coast Guard plans to spend about $100,000 to brighten
the structure's spiraling black and white stripes.
Graphic
CAPE HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE
Built: 1870 at Buxton on the Outer Banks.
Height: 208 feet, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United
States.
Stairs: 248 spiraling steps.
Visitation: Averages 2,000 people per day during summer.
Tours: Free daily admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, call the National Park Service: (919)
995-4474
by CNB