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Suit Dropped
April 22, 1999
Cheryl Roberts
UPDATE
HATTERAS ISLAND, NC
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The Dare County Commissioners and three private property owners north of
the lighthouse have decided not to appeal Judge Terrence Boyle's denial of
a temporary injunction to stop the relocation process for Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The way has been
cleared for an uninterrupted move process.
New Aquarium Underway
March 24, 1999
Michael Halminski
ROANOKE ISLAND, NC
North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island Director David Griffin shows Advisory Committee members the size of the Graveyard of the Atlantic tank by standing inside the structure.
Photos courtesy Michael Halminski
After an initial groundbreaking last November, the $15 million expansion project of the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island is well underway. The new facility, constructed by T.A. Loving Company of Goldsboro, will be double in size of the old aquarium, to about 68,000 square feet. The centerpiece exhibit will be the 185,000 gallon "Graveyard of the Atlantic" tank that will house a variety of sea life including sharks, spadefish, cobia, drum, groupers, and sea turtles, as well as a replica of the Civil War ironclad shipwreck, USS Monitor. Visitors will see the tank through a large 5 1/2 inch thick curved acrylic viewing port.
The grand opening is scheduled for spring of 2000. The other two North Carolina Aquariums at Pine Knoll Shores, and Fort Fisher are also scheduled for expansions in the near future. As the most visited state facilities, the three Aquariums host about one million people each year. 80,000 of these are school children participating in educational programs and field trips.
Move Accelerates
March 4, 1999
Cheryl Roberts
UPDATE
HATTERAS ISLAND, NC
The first photo shows the steepened headline on which the Cape Hatteras
Lighthouse is perched today. The image was taken about noon March 3rd, and
the tide is almost exactly between high and the approaching low tide around
3 PM.
Photos courtesy Bruce Roberts
Workers are making good progress coring and mining the granite foundation
rock. This is a slow process involving the careful removal of the stone
foundation and replacement with temporary shoring (support).
The National Park Service reports that the movers have discovered
identification on one of the plinths (the eight sided, stepped granite
stones around the base of the lighthouse) marked in soapstone and still
evident from around 1868. This is approximately when the plinths would have
been put in place by crews of Dexter Stetson, foreman of construction for
the U.S. Lighthouse Service (then known as the Light-House Board). There's
brick rubble and mortar holding the stone together in the foundation, as
recorded in Light-House Board documents. The workers removed some of the
plinth stone yesterday, and very well-bonded rubble masonry was found
underneath. Movers are keeping the same numbering as the original builders
for this plinth.
Plinth one, below grade, will be removed and stored for resetting after the
move. Plinths 2-5 will move with the tower.
Photos courtesy Bruce Roberts
The second photo shows the Double Keepers' Quarters well on its way last week
down the move corridor to the relocation site.
And the third photo is an aerial looking West, showing you the cordoned-off
construction site, the cleared move corridor, and the Double Keepers'
Quarters at the new site, waiting for its companions. The double-wide
trailer in the right background is the temporary visitors center.
Photos courtesy Bruce Roberts
Not seen is the Principal Keeper's Quarters, endearingly called the "Pink
House," just out of the picture to the right. It is planned to be moved
during the week of March 7.
Note the fading sandbags in front of the tower, the only line of defense
remaining.
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April 22nd Progress Report
April 22, 1999
Cheryl Roberts
UPDATE
HATTERAS ISLAND, NC
The Principal Keepers Quarters is on its new foundation and movers are
filling in around the perimeter. The Double Keepers Quarters is positioned
over its new foundation footers and the house will be lowered within two
weeks. Both houses look brand new; with the foliage behind the houses, the feeling is
that of one hundred years ago.
The tower's new foundation will increase the footprint from the present 48'
diameter to a 70' diameter. This will allow the tower to spread its weight
more evenly on a solid, seamless concrete foundation.
Photo courtesy National Park Service
Workers are running two shifts well into the early morning hours to keep the relocation on schedule.
At the time of this writing about 10% of the granite foundation remains to
be removed. When all stone has been mined, shoring towers will be in place
as temporary support. Engineers on site Tuesday expressed great satisfaction
with how evenly the load of the tower has spread onto the shoring towers.
International Chimney's team of engineers pointed out monitors on the tower
that "watch" for stress, tilt, and weather. These monitors alert personnel
on site as well as engineers in two other places in the country.
ICC predicts the tower will begin its slide to the new foundation around
the end of May and into the first week of June. The tower should end the
2,900 foot journey sometime in July if no delays are encountered.
Photo courtesy National Park Service
On the left of this image, the bright orange shoring towers are evident all the way down
the tunnel. One message sent to the society from earlier images showing
light on the other side of the tower said, "There's a tunnel at the end of
the light!"
To the right (west side of the tower) there is about 15% of the granite
foundation remaining to be mined; shoring towers will also replace this as
support.
Below the shoring towers is the steel mat which rests on the original pine
timber mat. The cross bars of the shoring towers will be removed to allow
room to place main beams with jacks and cross steel. These are two more
elements of the lift system that will transfer the load of the tower to the
transport system.
Photo courtesy Bruce Roberts
Looking east, this picture shows the excavation of the new
foundation with the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in the background. The pipes
are part of the dewatering system for the foundation excavation area.
April 3rd Report
April 3, 1999
Cheryl Roberts
UPDATE
HATTERAS ISLAND, NC
Photos courtesy National Park Service
In these images taken April 2, courtesy the National Park Service,
you can see the Double and Principal Keepers' Quarters are at the relocation
site and mining and coring of the granite foundation at the Lighthouse.
Photos courtesy National Park Service
This picture is taken from the southeast side. Workers remove the stone
and install shoring towers as support, making room for the main beams.
Photos courtesy National Park Service
A close up of the work progressing under the lighthouse. That's
daylight you see on the other side!
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