 Cape
Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point
that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest
line of the Atlantic coast of North America. So many ships have
been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the "Graveyard
of the Atlantic". The cape is actually a bend in Hatteras Island.
The first lighthouse at the cape was built in 1803. It was replaced
by the current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in 1870. The tallest lighthouse
in the United States at 198.48 feet. The eroding shoreline threatened
the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse,and it was was lifted and moved inland
a distance of 2900 feet. Its distance from the seashore is now 1500
feet, about the same as when it was originally built. 
The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is actually in Buxton, the local business
hub for Hatteras Island . The name Hatteras is the sixth oldest
surviving English place-name in the U.S. An inlet north of the cape
was named "Hatrask" in 1585 by Sir Richard Grenville. It was later
applied to the island and cape as well, and modified to "Hatteras. |