The Bodie Island Light Station on North Carolina’s Outer Banks reopens for climbing this Friday, April 19.
The 165-foot beacon south of Nags Head was built in 1872 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bodie light is the only lighthouse to open for climbing this season on Cape Hatteras National Seashore. For the fourth year in a row, the iconic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton will stay closed to climbing due to a $19 million restoration project.
The 198-foot Cape Hatteras lighthouse’s iconic black and white swirl and interior will be repainted, the metal window frames will be repaired or replaced and the lantern will be changed to LED lighting.
The grounds also will see major changes, with the park service planning to restore some of the landscape and native grasses that were around the lighthouse before it was moved from the beach in 1999.
The park service hopes to reopen the lighthouse to climbing next year.
Four lighthouses dot the Outer Banks — the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the Bodie Island Light Station, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Ocracoke Light Station. The Currituck lighthouse is privately managed and open for climbing. The Ocracoke lighthouse is not open to visitors.
At the Bodie Island lighthouse, climbing tickets will go on sale at 7 a.m. daily and may only be purchased on the same day of an intended climb. Tickets are available online only at www.recreation.gov/ticket/252034/ticket/10087143.
