Lighthouse fix on the horizon

Years ago, when James H. "Bud" Doughton ran a ferry between Harkers Island and Cape Lookout, he would watch as tourists disembarked and patted the brick of the towering 163-foot lighthouse. They would peer up its side and tell him, "I want to climb it."

Soon, they'll be able to.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced Wednesday that it will spend $487,000 to repair the 150-year-old lighthouse -- possibly by the 2010 tourist season -- so visitors can climb the cast-iron stairs to its crown.

The lighthouse was first lit on Nov. 1, 1859, and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the announcement to coincide with its 150th anniversary.

Doughton, president of the Friends of Cape Lookout National Seashore, said he heard the news on the radio.

"It was like a bolt of lightning," he said Wednesday. "Today's a great day."

The lighthouse, with its distinctive black-and-white diamond pattern, still swings its light across the shoals of Cape Lookout in Carteret County to guide ships at night. The lamp room is run by the U.S. Coast Guard, but the National Park Service has owned the lighthouse since 2003.

For three years, the park service would hold a handful of open houses each year, said Russel Wilson, superintendent of Cape Lookout National Seashore. Visitors could walk up the 219 steps, clamber through a hatch and step into the open lamp room. They could venture out onto a balcony 150 feet in the air for a sight that Wilson considers nearly pristine.

There was the tourist town of Beaufort, with its bars and B&Bs, and the Shackleford Banks, populated by wild horses. There lay Harkers Island, inhabited by a few fishing villages. A few miles into the ocean, the treacherous shoals could be seen beneath the water's surface.

"It's a gorgeous view," Wilson said.

Then, in the spring of 2008, a safety inspection shut the visitations down.

The Carteret County Chamber of Commerce put the lighthouse repairs on its legislative wish list. The Friends of Cape Lookout made restoration a top priority. The entire N.C. congressional delegation supported repairs, Wilson said.

Salazar and U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, held a conference call to announce the funding. Also listed among the supporters were U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, and U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican who represents Carteret County.

The money has yet to be released, but the Interior Department expects to put the project out to bid by early next year.

The work will include repairs to the spiral iron staircase that corkscrews up the lighthouse and a new modern handrail. The opening from the stairwell to the lamp room will be improved, and new guardrails will be added to the outside gallery to protect small children.

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