Bodie Island Lighthouse

Bodie Island Lighthouse Review

Designer Dexter Stetson was also the brains behind the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which explains why the two look so much alike. Bodie, with its wide (22 feet tall) black-and-white horizontal stripes, stands 156 feet tall and is capped by a black cast-iron lantern. It's actually the third lighthouse to guard this area of the coast. The first, built in 1847, was simply abandoned because of its shoddy construction. A second, build in 1859, was blown up in 1861 by retreating Confederate soldiers because they feared it would be used as a Yankee observation tower. The current lighthouse was completed in 1872, and is in the midst of a two-part renovation scheduled for completion in 2013.Only the keeper's house and museum can be toured.