Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Cosmos Mariner
Taken: June 19, 2015
Caption: Enduring Sentinel
(interpretive panel inside Fog Signal Building)
Additional Description: The Cape Hatteras ConnectionPigeon Point's first-order Fresnel lens has faithfully guided mariners past these shores since 1872. Manufactured by Henry-Lepaute in Paris, the lens began service in 1863 as the replacement lens in the original lighthouse at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina during the Civil War.

When a new tower was built at Cape Hatteras in 1870, the lens was removed and stored briefly at the Staten Island, New York Lighthouse Depot before being shipped in 72 crates around Cape Horn to Pigeon Point.

Weathering storms, witnessing disastrous shipwrecks, and even surviving the earthquakes of 1906 and 1989, this beacon has aided many a ship to safe harbor.

(photo captions)
• This lens first served in the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from 1863-1870.
• The 1,008 prisms and lenses light the way for mariners.
• Pigeon Point has guided mariners to safe harbor since 1872.
Submitted: August 27, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Database Locator Identification Number: p536297
File Size: 2.791 Megabytes

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