Observer staff report
Calling it perhaps the most innovative project the National Park Service has done since moving of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, David E. Hallac, superintendent, National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, led a groundbreaking for renovating the Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Ocracoke Light Station.
After three years of planning, Hallac and other officials put shovels to the ground Dec. 7 to ceremoniously begin the $3.6 million in renovations to the Double Keepers’ Quarters and other structures on the grounds.
Work on the duplex-style house is expected to begin in January, Hallac said, and take 12 months. Terra Site Contractors LLC of Front Royal, Virginia, is the contractor for the 200-year-old complex.
“Having the opportunity to implement this coastal adaptation project is really amazing,” he said. “When it comes to the treasures that the park service manages, we always have to implement a balance between trying to preserve the integrity of these structures but also adapt them to a changing world.”
The quarters received about 18 inches of water during Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 6, 2019. So, after receiving input from the Ocracoke community, the plan was to raise the quarters up five feet, which would protect it from rising waters but also retain its historic characteristics.
“The whole structure will receive a full rehabilitation and we’ll try to aim for making it as flood resilient as possible, keeping most of our mechanical units in the attic and using materials that are complementary to the historic materials that are in the site right now,” said George Jaramillo, historical architect for the Outer Banks Group of the National Park Service.
He said the outbuildings will be raised as well but not as high as the Double Keepers’ Quarters.
Robin Snyder, deputy superintendent, said after the formal actions that the renovation of the lighthouse will require a separate appropriation.
Ramona Bartos, director of the Division of historic Resources for the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources paid tribute to the National Park Service, Hyde County and the village of Ocracoke for the teamwork for what she described as a very complex project.
“The Historic Preservation Office is very dedicated to trying to make North Carolina the most resilient state in the nation,” she said, noting that her division has recently partnered with the School of Government University in North Carolina at Chapel Hill for something that they are calling the Historic Resilience Project.
Hyde County Manager Kris Noble invoked a bit of history.
“ When I stand here, I almost feel like I go back to a treasured time. If you close your eyes, you can still envision the lightkeeper emerging from this structure and walking across this yard to continue his daily work that kept this light shining,” she said. “And you can still see children in or running out underneath the trees to play.
“We can also imagine a time not so long ago, but embedded just as deeply in our minds. And that’s the day that Hurricane Dorian swept through this house and filled many of our homes and loved structures full of flood water. The decision to elevate, repair and restore our lightkeepers quarters represents the adaptable and resilient nature of the people of this island.”
