Cape Hatteras Lighthouse climbing reopening set back ‘about a year’ by unexpected issues uncovered in restoration

Stone & Lime Project Manager Lindsey Gravel (center) shares an update on the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse restoration project with media tour attendees the morning of Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

By Corinne Saunders

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BUXTON — The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton was originally expected to reopen this summer following a planned 18-month historic restoration project, but the National Park Service announced that the timeline has been set back by about a year after unexpected structural support issues were uncovered in its top section.

“It has set us back; we most likely delayed the project for about a year,” David Hallac, National Parks of Eastern North Carolina superintendent, told about a dozen media tour attendees on Thursday morning on the lighthouse grounds.

“We are expecting to be wrapping this project up sometime next summer,” Hallac said. “We may have some ability [for visitors] to visit the lighthouse before it’s completely wrapped up. But I think the most important thing is we’re getting this project right, and so that is going to take some additional time—but it’s worth it.”

The undertaking will also require more funds. The total project cost has increased by approximately $10 million because of the unexpected issues with load-bearing brackets.

“The repair to do this right is going to cost about an additional $10 million, so the total project cost will be $30 million,” Hallac said.

The originally planned $19.2 million lighthouse restoration project began in February 2024 and was expected to take 18 months. Massachusetts-based Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services was awarded the project contract in September 2023.

While the original 18 months would have concluded in August 2025, National Park Service information shared in September 2023 anticipated the lighthouse reopening to climbing in summer 2026.

Bracket components from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse are seen on Thursday, July 9, 2026. The ornamental section on the left will be preserved and the broken load-bearing section on the right, which was under layers of masonry, will be replaced, according to officials. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services Superintendent Josh Brundige told reporters that the crew was expecting 30-40 bracket cracks, but they instead found 116 measurable cracks in the 16 gallery decking brackets.

Stone & Lime Project Manager Lindsey Gravel said that their plan is to preserve the ornamental part of each bracket, which is visible outside the lighthouse, but to replace each structural part with stainless steel beams.

“The exterior ornamental portion of the bracket is in pretty good, lasting condition,” Gravel said. “Sure, it’s got some corrosion to it. But the issue’s with the structural component in the back embedded portion of the bracket, which, again, everything sits on top of.”

The current brackets are made of cast iron.

“Those brackets that we’re talking about being cracked lasted for and helped to keep this lighthouse up for 156 years, so I think that really is a testament to the craftsmanship, the workmanship that went into this,” Hallac said. “I’m unaware of a bridge or anything else that’s cast iron that for most of its life was a stone’s throw away from the Atlantic Ocean that lasted this long.”

The top portion of the lighthouse—including the lantern room and gallery—is currently missing. It was removed to unearth the brackets, which were embedded under layers of brick. Before that took place, engineers reinforced the scaffolding and created a gantry system at the top of the scaffolding that could lift up to 2,000 pounds, Stone & Lime officials described.

Contractors work to remove bricks near the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The large brackets that held up the gallery decking are seen surrounding the lighthouse structure. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

Brundige said that “about 47 feet of metal and material” was removed, noting that the scaffolding remains attached to the lighthouse, technically preserving its original height.

“There is a temporary beacon,” he added.

Crews documented the current state of everything before “systematically and surgically” removing the materials, and everything removed was carefully documented, Brundige said.

Original nuts and bolts were separated and saved for reuse as much as possible.

“We were able to unthread a lot of the bolts for the drum wall,” Brundige said, showing reporters examples set on a table. “These are the original 150-year-old bolts.”

National Park Service reports in the 1970s and ‘80s determined that there were some cracked brackets, but the investigations then were not as thorough as the historic restoration process has been, Brundige said.

“From the ‘80s and even the Polaroids in ’77, all they did was they removed the two wythes [layers] of brick to expose the back flange,” Brundidge said. “So what they did was more, you know, the symptoms, the cosmetics, the immediate area, not necessarily understanding the root cause.”

Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services Superintendent Josh Brundige discusses the restoration of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Many of the cracks were only exposed after the removal of seven wythes of brick, he said.

It is unclear exactly what caused these cracks, or when, but officials noted that their documentation clearly predates the move of the lighthouse inland 2,900 feet from its original location in 1999 due to threats from coastal erosion.

“There’s a lot of thoughts about why this happened,” Brundige said of the cracking, with theories including heat thermal expansion and contraction or water damage.

Originally, the lighthouse’s lamps, and then its first-order Fresnel lens, were lit with whale oil, and the alternating fire’s heat and winter’s cold could be an explanation, he noted.

Had the extent of the cracking underneath the masonry been discovered in the ‘80s, a different conclusion from the determination that further work was unnecessary likely would have been reached, Hallac opined.

According to Hallac, the total project cost, including the additional $10 million, is funded by two sources. These are the National Park Service’s “line item construction budget”—federal budget funding specific to construction projects—and Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act funding, “which is essentially entrance fee money that parks collect.”

David Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, leads a media tour on Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Hallac noted that the project involves “a complete top-to-bottom restoration” of the lighthouse and also includes landscaping and other historical design elements, such as a stockade fence.

The landscaping features native plants such as Spartina beach grasses, yaupon, live oaks and sea oats. Brick pathways have been installed according to their original historic placements and orientations on the light station grounds.

New concrete walkways will encircle the lighthouse and will for the first time provide visitor views of the lighthouse from all angles from the ground, while also providing accessibility and emergency vehicle access if needed, according to Hallac.

The installation of the “Keeper’s Walk” is complete. As visitors exit the grounds, on either side of the concrete path are large stones engraved with the names of the known light station keepers, who for over 100 years kept the light burning at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

The first-order Fresnel lens is complete but is in storage until the top of the lighthouse is reconstructed, officials said.

The return of the daymark, the black-and-white spiraling stripe pattern on the exterior, is among projects remaining for the iconic lighthouse, which currently remains in bare brick.

Educational signs are another yet-to-be completed part of the work.

“There will be a series of educational signs orienting you to this light station and the history,” Hallac noted. “Those signs are under design and fabrication right now. They’ll be installed before the project is completed.”

Workers are seen on the scaffolding encasing the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

The nation’s tallest lighthouse has been closed to climbing since 2020.

Before its closure, about half a million people visited the Cape Hatteras Light Station each year and approximately 1,500 people climbed the lighthouse each day between April and October, according to the National Park Service website.

Designed and constructed between 1868-70, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

For more information about the restoration project, visit www.nps.gov/caha/learn/news/cape-hatteras-lighthouse-restoration-project.htm.

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This article was updated at 6:20 p.m. on Monday, July 13, to clarify that the lighthouse was originally anticipated to reopen to climbing this summer, not this August specifically.

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