Lens

The history of many southern lighthouses, probably hastily researched, states that during the Civil War the lens from the tower was "buried in the sand" by the Confederates to keep it from the Yankees, or in some cases the lens was destroyed. The buried in the sand theory even followed a 1st order lens to the Pigeon Point lighthouse in California. Some articles and books on Pigeon Point state that the present lens was removed from Cape Hatteras, buried in the sand during the Civil War and then dug up and shipped to Pigeon Point.