Outer Banks vandals break windows, smash door of historic lighthouse, NC officials say
.png "Vandals have broken windows and smashed up a door of the historic Ocracoke Light Station at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.")
The Ocracoke Light Station, the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina, has been vandalized twice in recent weeks, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials are turning to the public for help finding who’s responsible.
Constructed in 1823, the Ocracoke lighthouse stands tall along the Outer Banks, the bright, white structure towering to 75 feet -- a comforting sight to mariners for many years.
It is the second oldest operating lighthouse in the country, according to Cape Hatteras park officials, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
But both the lighthouse, and the keeper’s quarters, have become the targets of vandals.
In late September, rangers discovered the lighthouse’s door had been damaged, a wooden slat was broken away and a wire screen forcibly removed.
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Then on Oct. 5, rangers noticed windows broken at the keeper’s quarters, outbuildings, and the lighthouse itself.
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Officials believe the second vandalism occurred at some point between late Oct. 3 to early Oct. 5.
“The Seashore has launched an investigation and seeks tips from the public to help catch those responsible for the vandalism,” Cape Hatteras park officials wrote in a Facebook post, sharing pictures of the damage.
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Anyone with information regarding either incident of vandalism can call or send a text to the National Park’s Investigative Services Branch tip line, at 888-653-0009. Tips can also be submitted at www.nps.gov/isb
Cape Hatteras park has turned to the public for help before under very similar circumstances, and it worked.
A tip led officials to a Winston-Salem man who carved the letters “SEF” into the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse with a pocket knife, the Raleigh News & Observer previously reported.
The park posted about the act of vandalism in June 2018, and about a year later, in July 2019, the man plead guilty to a charge of vandalism in federal court. He was placed on probation for a year and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.