The 1872 Bodie Island Lighthouse joined a valued network of navigational aids that guided mariners along an otherwise featureless and tricky coastline of North Carolina. The site was significant as witnessed in efforts by the U.S. Lighthouse Service that built three towers to mark the immediate area between 1848 and 1872. The first tower Was completed in 1848 but rendered useless due to an inadequate foundation; the second tower was built in 1859 but fell victim to the War Between the States in 1861. The existing tower was completed in 1872 and the design was the pride of the Lighthouse Service and used for several other east and west coast lighthouses. The light served to warn south-bound ships to bear due east away from the barrier islands laced with shoals, the equivalent to mountains of liquid sand hiding just under the water.
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