A new tower was requested and money was appropriated by Congress to begin construction in 1868. Its brand new first-order Fresnel lens made it an impressive structure helping to warn mariners of the dangerous Diamond Shoals. International Chimney, Inc. and their team of engineers successfully moved the Cape Hatteras Light Station 2,900 feet to the southwest of the original location, placing the tower 1,600 feet from the ocean s edge on July 9, 1999. The light station was reset with the Principal and Double Keepers Quarters, brick oil house, sidewalks, and cisterns in the same relative position to one another as they were at the first site. Hydraulic jacks lifted the 4,400 ton lighthouse, supported it while en route, and lowered the structure onto a new 60-foot square concrete foundation.
Brick conjoins the space between the underside of the tower and the concrete pad.
Thanks to a newly patented hydraulic clamp, the push jacks, which gently pushed the lighthouse along travel beams, were released and reset quickly, allowing the move to be accomplished in only twenty-three days. Not long after the move was complete and with the newly laid brick foundation barely set, two hurricanes challenged the structural integrity of the lighthouse. The newly gained distance between the lighthouse and the ocean provided a protective buffer from lashing winds. Although great window damage occurred, the tower proved strong and able to withstand not only the rigors of the move process, but also the fury of a strong hurricane. There is no fee for climbing this year, but the light station becomes part of the fee demonstration program of the National Park Service in 2001.