The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:
In November 1999, Dave and I were at Cape Hatteras just after the lighthouse had been moved, and we happened to be there for the relighting of the lighthouse. I went to the relighting while Dave fished. I was glad I took an aluminum folding chair; nice and light for the long walk from where I parked to the beach area for the ceremony. It had all the elements of a patriotic program, the expected speeches from the local citizens who supported the moving of the lighthouse in the first place, some religious elements, then a most interesting concise and intelligent speech by the gentleman from the International Chimney Corp. who masterminded the entire operation. “The largest project they ever undertook.”
I enjoyed the appropriate music, especially “The Benediction,” which was a solo of the hymn, “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.” At 6:00 p.m. was an impressive US Coast Guard fly-over of a Hercules and a Jayhawk, and then the relighting of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The ceremony was very touching, and a welcome sight after the “dead” lighthouse we saw before it was relit.
We’ve been returning to this place regularly starting when Carolyn and Jonathan were very young, and the lighthouse has become a symbol of good times for all our family. But beyond that, it used to prevent shipwrecks for many years in those wild waters of the Diamond Shoals. With its blinking “eye,” all through the night, you see it from your motel window, or from the beach, and if you’re in bed, you see the light over and over again on your wall, and it almost seems alive. If, during its move, anything had gone wrong and it had fallen into a pile of bricks, as some natives suspected would happen, I’m sure we would have mourned it as a lost friend.
To be continued…
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee (1931 – 2024) built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
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