Bodie Island Lighthouse Needs Repairs

As problems have surfaced at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Bodie (BOD'-Y) Island Lighthouse finds its minimal funding threatened.

Bodie is in much serious disrepair and is closed to the public. Last year, Congress offered up $200,000 in matching money for restoration work at the lighthouse. U.S. senators added $287,000 last week for the lighthouse.

That's a fraction of the two million dollars needed to make the lighthouse safe. Future money is in doubt because cracked stairway brackets have forced the closure of Hatteras light.

Bodie's staircase and other metalwork are corroded and weak. Lighthouse experts suspect the stairway's thick coat of black paint hides rust and cracks.

National Park Service officials had expected entry fees into the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse would raise money for improvements up and down the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, including to the Bodie light. But with Hatteras closed, that funding has disappeared.