Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stands on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in the town of Buxton, its present brick tower completed in 1870 to a design credited to Dexter Stetson under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, replacing an original 1802 lighthouse on the same stretch of coast. At 64 meters, it is the tallest lighthouse in the United States and is known for its black and white spiral stripe pattern. Threatened by coastal erosion, the entire structure was moved about 884 meters inland in 1999, a relocation the American Society of Civil Engineers recognized as an outstanding engineering achievement.