Hatteras Inlet, NC 
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The history of Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse is inseparable from the dramatic birth of Hatteras Inlet itself. Unlike many of North Carolina’s historic waterways, Hatteras Inlet did not exist in its modern form until September 7, 1846, when a powerful hurricane carved a new opening through the Outer Banks. The same storm that created present-day Oregon Inlet also tore through Hatteras Island, opening a channel between Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke Island. The new inlet quickly transformed navigation along North Carolina’s coast. While Ocracoke Inlet had long served as the principal entrance to the sounds behind the Outer Banks, Hatteras Inlet offered a shorter and more convenient route between the sheltered inland waters and the Gulf Stream. Vessels approaching from the north found it easier to enter Hatteras Inlet than Ocracoke, and commercial traffic soon increased substantially. The growing importance of the area was reflected in the establishment of the Hatteras Village Post Office in 1858.
As commerce expanded, mariners recognized the need for navigational aids at the new inlet. By 1857, federal officials noted that the depth of water over the inlet bar had steadily improved and that Hatteras Inlet was becoming both an important harbor of refuge and a valuable route for coastal trade. Reports suggested that a light was badly needed to guide vessels through the entrance, particularly near Oliver’s Reef, a dangerous shoal extending into the sound on the north side of the inlet. Lighthouse authorities believed that an iron-pile structure would be more economical than maintaining a lightship, but no immediate action was taken.
Congress finally appropriated $5,000 on June 20, 1860, for a beacon light at or near Hatteras Inlet. Preparations advanced rapidly. Iron and wooden components were fabricated in Wilmington, Delaware, and shipped south for erection. Before construction could be completed, however, disaster struck. According to the Lighthouse Board’s 1862 report, all of the materials had been safely landed at the selected site when a violent storm swept across the area during the night, carrying away nearly every piece of the structure. Only scattered remnants were recovered. Materials useful to the military occupation forces at Hatteras Inlet were sold to the Quartermaster Department, and plans for the light were postponed indefinitely.
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The outbreak of the Civil War further delayed construction. Hatteras Inlet had already assumed military significance when Union forces launched the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries on August 28–29, 1861. Entering through the inlet, Union naval and military forces attacked Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras, the Confederate defenses guarding the passage. The forts quickly fell, giving the Union control of an important strategic gateway into North Carolina’s inland waters.
After the war, the demand for a lighthouse grew stronger. Lighthouse Board reports in 1870 and 1871 described Hatteras Inlet as the best entrance to the sounds of North Carolina and emphasized the large volume of trade passing through it. Although buoys marked the channel, mariners attempting to enter or leave the inlet at night faced considerable danger. Sailing vessels, unable to time their arrivals as precisely as steamships, often had no choice but to approach in darkness. Without a lighthouse, they risked grounding on Oliver’s Reef or missing the channel entirely.
Congress finally authorized a screw-pile lighthouse for Hatteras Inlet on March 3, 1873, appropriating $18,000 for the project. Engineers selected Oliver’s Reef as the site because it marked the north side of the inlet entrance and posed one of the principal navigational hazards. The planned structure would stand directly on the shoal and display a fixed red light visible to vessels approaching the channel.
Construction proceeded during 1874. After obtaining title and jurisdiction over the site from the State of North Carolina, engineers conducted borings and found a firm foundation of hard sand. The ironwork was fabricated under contract, while the wooden superstructure was assembled at the Lighthouse Board’s depot at Lazaretto, near Baltimore. Materials were transported to the site in July 1874, and construction crews quickly assembled the lighthouse.
The new Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse was completed in September and first exhibited its light on October 1, 1874. The structure consisted of a square wooden dwelling resting upon five wrought-iron screw piles, each eight inches in diameter and embedded approximately ten feet into the shoal. Rising from the center of the dwelling was a lantern containing a Fresnel lens. The lighthouse stood in seven feet of water at the end of Oliver’s Reef. Its lantern was painted red, the dwelling white, and the roof and ironwork brown. Mariners approaching the inlet saw a red flashing light every thirty seconds, while a fog bell sounded every eight seconds during periods of reduced visibility. The light could be seen from approximately eleven nautical miles away.
The station’s first keeper was Nelson P. Angell, appointed on September 4, 1874, at an annual salary of $600. His son, Louis C. Angell, became the first assistant keeper, earning $440 per year. Nelson Angell would remain in charge of the station until his death in 1887, making him the longest-serving keeper in the lighthouse’s history. Life at the isolated screw-pile station demanded constant vigilance. Keepers maintained the light, sounded the fog bell, cared for the structure, and monitored the shifting channels surrounding the inlet.
Several notable keepers followed Angell, including Lazarus G. Hinnant, Amasa J. Simpson, Henry B. Spencer, John B. Jennett, John B. Quidley, and William G. Rollinson. One of the station’s most unusual appointments came in 1894 when Eulalia Simpson was named assistant keeper under her husband, Head Keeper Amasa J. Simpson. Serving until 1896, she remains the only woman to have held a keeper’s position at Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse.
The station underwent periodic improvements during the late nineteenth century. In 1899, the fog-bell machinery was replaced, a new floor was installed beneath the bell weights, and modern fourth-order lamps were fitted. The lighthouse continued to evolve as technology improved. In September 1900, the mechanism revolving the lens failed, forcing the station to temporarily display a fixed red light. Repairs were completed on October 8, when a new lens was installed that produced a flashing red light every twenty seconds. Four years later, on February 18, 1904, the light characteristic was changed once again, this time to a fixed red light. Additional improvements included a suspended fuel platform beneath the dwelling and numerous structural repairs.
During the early twentieth century, Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse became known not only as a navigational aid but also as a center of lifesaving activity. Keeper William G. Rollinson, who served from 1911 to 1922, repeatedly came to the assistance of mariners in distress. In March 1914, Rollinson and Assistant Keeper Barney F. Peel helped rescue the crew of the grounded schooner Stow during dense fog. Reports stated that without their intervention, both vessel and crew might have been lost. Rollinson continued this tradition of service throughout the decade, assisting fishermen, towing disabled boats, rescuing adrift mariners, and helping stranded vessels return safely to harbor.
Among his many rescues were assistance rendered to distressed fishing boats in 1915, the towing of the disabled steamship N. G. Walestein from Hatteras Reefs in January 1916, assistance to disabled fishermen in 1917, and efforts to free the grounded schooner A. L. White in 1918. During severe winter conditions that same year, Assistant Keeper Crawford R. Austin was formally commended for maintaining the light and fog bell despite hazardous floating ice. Rollinson continued his record of public service in 1919 and 1922, rescuing disabled motorboats and stranded sailing craft.
The harsh environment of Pamlico Sound constantly threatened the screw-pile structure. Ice floes during the winter of 1917–1918 caused extensive damage to many lighthouse foundations throughout the Fifth Lighthouse District. Federal appropriations totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars funded repairs and protective works. At Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse, underwater bracing that had been torn away by ice was replaced in 1920. The lighthouse tender Juniper delivered materials and divers to complete the difficult underwater repairs.
The final years of the station reflected the nationwide transition toward automation. In December 1922, an acetylene illumination system was installed, replacing the traditional oil lighting apparatus. At the same time, the fog signal was discontinued, and the keepers were withdrawn. The light characteristic changed to a flashing white light every three seconds with a power of 580 candlepower.
In 1925, a black skeletal tower standing on the existing brown piles replaced the original screw-pile dwelling lighthouse. The new structure displayed a light 40 feet above the water with a power of 230 candlepower. This skeletal beacon was far simpler and required far less maintenance than the old keeper’s dwelling.
By installing acetylene illumination at both Hatteras Inlet and Gull Shoal Light Stations, the Lighthouse Service eliminated four keeper positions and three lamplighter positions. Responsibility for the automated lights was transferred to the personnel at Bluff Shoal Light Station, ending almost fifty years of continuous resident service at Hatteras Inlet.
Though the original screw-pile lighthouse disappeared, Hatteras Inlet Lighthouse played a crucial role in the maritime history of North Carolina. For almost half a century it guided vessels through one of the state’s most important inlets, marked the dangerous waters of Oliver’s Reef, and served as a base for numerous acts of lifesaving heroism. Its story reflects the development of Hatteras Inlet from a storm-created opening in 1846 into a vital commercial and navigational gateway for the waters of Pamlico Sound.
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