Bodie Island Lighthouse opens Friday for climbing, Double Keepers’ Quarters still closed after January fire

Bodie Island Lighthouse as seen on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

By Corinne Saunders

NAGS HEAD — The Bodie Island Lighthouse opens for climbing on Friday, April 18, and will be open daily through Monday, Oct. 13.

The lighthouse is located at 8210 Bodie Island Lighthouse Road in Nags Head. It has over 200 steps to its top viewing platform.

Climbing tickets go on sale at 7 a.m. and can only be purchased online on the same day of an intended climb, according to a Cape Hatteras National Seashore press release announcing the climbing season.

Approximately 170 climbing tickets are available each day, according to National Park Service spokesperson Mike Barber.

Last year, 29,815 people climbed the Bodie Island Lighthouse, he said.

Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens (ages 62 or older), children ages 11 years or younger, and the disabled, according to the park’s website. Tickets are only available for purchase at www.recreation.gov/ticket/252034/ticket/10087143.

The Double Keepers’ Quarters, which housed the site’s retail store, remains closed after a January fire. No estimated reopening date is available as of publication time.

“Visitors will still be able to find shade during the summer months on the front and back porches of the Double Keepers’ Quarters, but the interior of the building remains closed,” Barber said in an email response to Outer Banks Insider’s questions. “We do not have any estimates related to reopening or costs.”

Built in 1872 and located next to Bodie Island Lighthouse, the building once housed the lighthouse’s keepers, or caretakers, according to online National Park Service information.

No injuries were reported in the fire that caused an unknown amount of internal damage to the building on Tuesday, Jan. 7. The building has been closed since for the investigation and repairs.

Contractors work inside the Double Keepers’ Quarters (front building) at the Bodie Island Light Station on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, following a fire earlier that month. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Dare County Fire Marshal Steve Kovacs did not respond to a query seeking details on the status of the fire investigation by publication time.

Bodie Island Lighthouse is one of three lighthouses managed by Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Ocracoke Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island is not open for public climbing.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States, remains closed to climbing this season due to ongoing restoration work.

The lighthouse has been closed to climbers since 2020 and is expected to reopen in 2026. The 18-month, $19.2 million lighthouse restoration project began in February 2024, as Outer Banks Insider previously reported.

A virtual climb tour experience of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is available online at this website: https://www.nps.gov/hdp/exhibits/caha/tour/index.html.

The fourth Outer Banks lighthouse, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla, is managed by the nonprofit Outer Banks Conservationists. It is open for daily climbing this season from March 22 through Nov. 30. Tickets are $13 and are only available the day of the climb onsite. For more information, visit https://obcinc.org/currituck-beach-lighthouse/plan-your-visit/.

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