Body Island Light House was built in 1872. It was the second attempt. The first was not sturdy enough to last through the hurricanes. It is called Body Island Light House, however it is not on an island. There is no Body Island in North Carolina. The first light house workers last name was Body. Thus the name of the light house. At some point someone began spelling it with an IE and it stuck. Hence taking Body to Bodie. No official change, no official reasoning just changed and stuck.
This is the staircase in the light house. It is not possible to climb it anymore because the rigging to the wall are not safe. It will be going under construction later this year, the end of Spetember I believe, and it will be finished sometime next year. The lady ranger that was inside the light house said that it will cost approximately 3.2 million to redo the staircase.
When they originally made the lighthouse there was a huge machine in this hole that actually turned the light around and helped to lift the huge cannisters of karosene up to the top.
The beautiful staircase again.
Just playing but the copper effect on the picture is aweomse! It makes it all creepy haunted like. This place wasnt haunted but it looks cool.
This is the room where the watchers would stay in at night or during their shift to make sure the light was full at all times and running.
This is the house that the lighthouse keeper and their assistants would stay in. The keeper had their family stay with them as much as possible. The only thing being is that if they had children there is no school near the island so they would have to go to Ocracoke or another near by Island to get their schooling.
This is the copper coloring with me :D and the lighthouse
Black and white with the beautiful North Carolina sky in the background.
Black and white with the beautiful North Carolina sky in the background.
This is a ranger. They switch between the lighthouse and the house to talk with visitors and to tell their story.
These are pictures of the lighthouse from the early 1900's. The kid in the bottom left hand corner is the lighthouse keepers son. He was wearing his dad's uniform and would later become a navy man himself. As you can see in the picture on the far right of the board.
This is him some 80 years later. He is in his nineties now and works every tuesday and thursday telling his story and educating people on the ways of life then. He told us a lot of stories. There was one that was really funny. His dad had some guys come out and build a shed. The guys that were building the shed didnt brace the shed or build it up the way they should have. His dad kept telling them it would blow away with the first big wind. When they had their first good blowing (his words) the shed flew away. Never to be seen again. A more solemn story would be when the hurricane threatened to take the lighthouse. The water from the ocean came all the way up to the stairs of the lighthouse. Luckily it didnt get any closer but the evacuation left many animals and people fending for themselves.