1170-D, Retail Price $25.00

Fits minimum 150mm x 240mm hoop.
Available in PES, PCS, HUS, CSD, DST, EXP, JEF, XXX, and SEW formats.

For real lighthouse enthusiasts, these large designs make great corner blocks on a lighthouse quilt! Line the perimeter of the quilt with a selection of miniature lighthouses!

COMING SOON:
Regionalized Lighthouse Quilt Designs!

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LIGHTHOUSE HISTORY

In 1837, Lt. Napoleon Coste was sent out to inspect the coasts south of the Chesapeake. He found that between Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras, a 150 mile stretch, it was completely dark. A lighthouse was urgently needed to be put in between the two existing ones. He wanted the new lighthouse to be put on Bodie Island, where many ships were lost compared to any other part of the coast. Congress set aside $5,000 to put a lighthouse on Pea Island, NOT Bodie.

Finally, after a 10 year delay due to fights over land, location, and the design of the tower, construction began in the summer of 1847. The contractor was Frank Gibbons, a big time builder of lighthouses on the west coast, but he was not allowed to design the lighthouse. He was given a plan for a small structure measuring only 54 feet high, 17 feet in diameter at the base, and 12 1/2 feet in diameter at the top. He was made to work with someone who did not know much about construction and even less about lighthouses.

No piles were driven, only a foundation of brick and mud were put down. Because of that, the lighthouse was unstable and after it was completed in 1848, it began to lean toward the ocean. In order to keep the lighthouse from falling over, $1,400 was spent on trying to straighten it. It didn't work, though.

By 1859, the lighthouse was beyond repair. The lighthouse board set aside $25,000 to build a new structure on piles, standing 80 feet tall. The lamps in the third order lens would only burn for a little more than two years. In late 1861, Confederate troops blew up the tower. A third Bodie Island Lighthouse was finished by 1872. This tower holds a first order Fresnel lens which can be seen from 19 miles at sea. Shortly after being lit, geese flew into the lens damaging it. It was repaired and is still in use today.