Manteo to Murphy – Outer Banks (OBX)

On May 16th we finally drove over the last bridge and arrived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We would be staying at a campground about 25 miles south of Kitty Hawk and an equal distance north of Hatteras near the town of Rodanthe. As you may recall from our last post, this area was hit pretty bad by high winds and tides prior to our arrival and we saw a lot of evidence of the damage done during that time. On our trip down the island we saw high mounds of sand being scooped off of the road and built into dunes where the ocean had washed across during the storms. Later, we would see more evidence of damages at the beach at our park.

This trip was originally planned around a national rally for owners of coaches such as ours (American Coach) and we were looking forward to meeting other people with similar interests and RV’s in the coming days. However, we arrived several days before the start of the rally which gave us time to explore the area and settle in. Our site was next to a pond on the “ocean side” while across the road were more sites on the “sound side”.

As soon as we were all set up, we walked down to the beach to put our toes in the Atlantic. It was still windy but a nice little walk. Unfortunately, we were also faced with leftovers from the recent storms. Volunteers had spent the previous weekend piling up debris from three homes that had collapsed into the ocean during the storms. Amazingly, by the next weekend, all debris had been removed from the beach.

First views of beach clockwise from Top Left: Campground from dunes, Jill about to head to beach, view south down beach (note fridge and other debris), view north up beach (note pile of lumber debris)

The day after our arrival, we headed south for a couple of sites. The first would be to visit the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The lighthouse’s semi-unique pattern makes it easy to recognize and famous. It is often ranked high on lists of most beautiful, and famous lighthouses in the US. Its 198-foot height makes it the tallest brick lighthouse structure in the United States and 2nd in the world.

At the behest of mariners and officers of the U.S. Navy, Congress appropriated $80,000 to the United States Lighthouse Board to construct a new beacon at Cape Hatteras in 1868 (the first one was completed in 1802 and was found to be inadequate in protecting mariners from the dangerous shoals). Completed in just under two years, the new Cape Hatteras lighthouse cost $167,000. The new tower, from which the first-order light was first exhibited on December 16, 1871, was the tallest brick lighthouse tower in the world. It was 200 feet above ground and the focal height of the light was 208 feet above water.

Ever since the completion of the new tower in 1870, there had begun a very gradual encroachment of the sea upon the beach. This did not become serious, however, until 1919, when the high water line had advanced to about 120 feet from the base of the tower (the tower was originally built almost 1,500 feet from the water). Since that time the surf gnawed steadily toward the base of the tower until 1935, when the site was finally reached by the surf. Several attempts were made to arrest this erosion, but dikes and breakwaters had been of no avail. In 1935, therefore, the tower light was replaced by an Aerobeacon atop a four-legged steel skeleton tower, placed farther back from the sea on a sand dune 166 feet above the sea, visible for 19 miles. The abandoned brick tower was then put in the custody of the National Park Service.

The Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration erected a series of wooden revetments which checked the wash that was carrying away the beach. In 1942, when German U-boats began attacking ships just offshore, the Coast Guard resumed its control over the brick tower and manned it as a lookout station until 1945. By then, due to accretion of sand on the beach, the brick tower was 500 to 900 feet inland from the sea and again tenable as a site for the light, which was placed back in commission January 23, 1950.

In 1999, with the sea again encroaching, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse had to be moved from its original location at the edge of the ocean to safer ground. Due to erosion of the shore, the lighthouse was just 15 feet from the water’s edge and was in imminent danger. The move was a total distance of 2,900 feet to the southwest, placing the lighthouse 1,500 feet from the current shoreline. All other support buildings at the site were also moved at the same time. All support buildings were placed back in positions that maintained their original compass orientations and distance/height relationship to the lighthouse. International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, New York was awarded the contract to move the lighthouse, assisted by, among other contractors, Expert House Movers. The move was controversial at the time with speculation that the structure would not survive the move, resulting in lawsuits that were later dismissed. Despite some opposition, work progressed and the move was completed on September 14, 1999. Today, you can see the route the lighthouse took to its new location and tour the Lightkeeper’s house but due to structural concerns, you cannot currently hike to the top of the lighthouse.

Our next stop was the southern most point of Hatteras Island to visit the Graveyard of the Sea Museum. This was not as interesting as we had hoped but had a few interesting exhibits and info.

The next day we headed back north with plans to visit another lighthouse as well as the Wright Brothers National Historic site. On the way, we traveled over a newer bridge that spans the Oregon Inlet. We learned later that this major access point from the sound to the ocean had been closed by the same storms that had washed away houses down the coast. The Coast Guard were in the process of removing all markers so that people would not be fooled into traveling thru an assumed channel that was now filled with sand.

Next stop was the Bodie Island Lighthouse. And this one could be climbed! You were required to make advance reservations as only so many people were allowed at one time. In fact, the internal iron stairway could only hold one person at a time between landings since it was suspended between landings. As one person reached the next landing, they would call down the next person to “climb on”.

The current Bodie Island Lighthouse is the third that has stood in this vicinity of Bodie Island on the Outer Banks in North Carolina and was built in 1872. It stands 156 feet tall and is located on the Roanoke Sound side of a portion of a peninsula that is the first part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. There are 214 steps that spiral to the top. The structure is one of only a dozen remaining tall, brick tower lighthouses in the United States — and one of the few with an original first-order Fresnel lens to cast its light.

Next stop was the Wright Brother’s National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills. It commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area’s steady winds. They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers.

The Visitor Center is home to a museum featuring models and actual tools and machines used by the Wright brothers during their flight experiments including a reproduction of the wind tunnel used to test wing shapes and a portion of the engine used in the first flight. In one wing of the Visitor Center is a life-size replica of the Wright brothers’ 1903 Wright Flyer, the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft in history to achieve controlled flight (the original being displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.).

Outside the visitor’s center you will find markers noting where the aircraft took off as well as where it landed on each of its first four flights. Between 10:35 a.m. and noon on December 17, 1903, the brothers made four flights. The first and second were 12 seconds, then 15 seconds on the third, and the final, long flight lasted 59 seconds. Distances covered were 120 feet, 175 feet, 200 feet, and 852 feet. Altitudes ranged between about 8 to 14 feet.

A 60 feet granite monument, dedicated in 1932, is perched atop 90-foot-tall Kill Devil Hill, commemorating the achievement of the Wright brothers. They conducted many of their glider tests on the massive shifting dune that was later stabilized to form Kill Devil Hill. Inscribed in capital letters along the base of the memorial tower is the phrase “In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.”

On December 17, 2003, the Centennial of Flight was celebrated at the Park. The ceremony was hosted by flight enthusiast John Travolta, and included appearances by President George W. Bush, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and test pilot Chuck Yeager. An interactive sculpture was donated by the State of North Carolina and dedicated during the celebration. The life sized sculpture, created by Stephen H. Smith, is a full-sized replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer the moment the flight began and includes the Wright Brothers along with members of the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station who assisted in moving the aircraft, as well as John T. Daniels who took the now famous photograph of the first flight.

It was truly amazing to walk in the steps of such an historic event, to be where it happened and to see recreations of the event presented several ways.

Our final adventure of the day was to commemorate the start of our cross state journey. Although we did not stop at a sign to prove it, we did have a wonderful lunch in Manteo with a photo to prove it!

One of the unique characteristics of the campground was that it stretched from the ocean to the sound with a road running thru the middle. One late afternoon we walked over to the sound to watch the kite surfers and the sunset – absolutely stunning!

In contrast, we took a walk up the beach towards the pier to see up close how the homes looked near the shoreline. It was sad to see the houses slowly being reclaimed by the ocean (most of the ones pictured have been abandoned at this point and are not occupied).

In between all the sightseeing, the American Coach Association (ACA) National Rally occurred. We have no pics from the various activities but here are some of the things you do during a rally:

• Introduction meeting for new/first time rally attendees (that was us!)
• Familiarization session on the Freightliner chassis our coach is built on
• General Q&A session with expert on our coach
• Various general session meetings
• And of course, dinners and entertainment and meeting people

Our last planned activities was to travel just down the road to the Chicamacomico Life Saving Station (CLSS) which was built in 1874. After the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the United States Revenue Cutter Service merged in January 1915 to create the U.S. Coast Guard, Chicamacomico became a U.S. Coast Guard facility. Under Coast Guard control, it remained active until 1954. After its decommissioning the facility was transformed into a museum.

The CLSS is perhaps best remembered for the 1918 rescue of the British tanker Mirlo on August 16 1918. Mirlo was struck by a German torpedo fired by U117, about 5 miles offshore during World War I. Forty-two crew members of the Mirlo were saved from the burning tanker by Keeper John Allen Midgett Jr. and his crew. Numerous accolades and awards were bestowed upon the 6 life-savers including gold medals in their honor presented by King George V of the United Kingdom and the Grand Cross of the American Cross of Honor. To date only eleven Grand Cross of the American Cross of Honor awards have been bestowed in the history of the United States with six being bestowed upon the members of the CLSS.

Today, Chicamacomico forms the most complete USLSS site in the nation, and still presents the reenactment of the historic Beach Apparatus Drill every Thursday during summer tourist season. This drill includes the historic Lyle Gun and rescuing a live victim from a simulated ship wreck.

On the day before our departure, we found a great little restaurant on the sound where we could eat outside. We had free entertainment watching several kite surfers prepare and start off right in front of us which was a great way to end our time on the Outer Banks.

Time to head west to see some more of the state. Next stop, Raleigh!