Climb America's tallest lighthouse

The most famous lighthouse in North Carolina and one of the most well-known lighthouses in America, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the nation’s tallest traditional lighthouse and is almost as famous for its exploits as it is for its size. The lighthouse protects a stretch of the Outer Banks along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The lighthouse’s light was “lost” for more than 100 years after the Civil War and in what became known as the “Move of the Millennium,” the entire structure had to be relocated down the beach as the sea nearly claimed it through erosion. The lighthouse was moved 2,900 feet in 23 days in a move that set Guinness Records and won the Opal Award for Civil Engineering. The lighthouse is open for climbing from late-April through mid-October, including special night-climbing sessions. The Hatteras Light was created to protect one of the most hazardous sections of America’s coastline, the area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. The light was essential to coastal safety because offshore of Cape Hatteras the Gulf Stream running from the south collides with the Labrador Current coming from the north. The resulting current forces southbound ships into a dangerous sandbar called Diamond Shoals. The collision of currents makes for treacherous shipping, but it also creates a fishing paradise.