Outer Banks Lighthouse Benchmark geocoin - bronze

*Discontinued*

Outer Banks Lighthouse Benchmark geocoin

This coin features all five historical lighthouses located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The top of each lighthouse is a benchmark as indicated by the PID number we placed by each lighthouse image on the coin. There are also benchmark disks located near or on a few of the lighthouses. On this coin we placed two of the benchmark disks: Cape Hatteras lighthouse commemorative benchmark disk and the disk located on the steps of Currituck lighthouse. That makes a total of 7 benchmarks on one coin:
- Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
- Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Benchmark
- Currituck Lighthouse
- Currituck Lighthouse Benchmark
- Bodie Island Lighthouse
- Ocracoke Island Lighthouse
- Cape Lookout Lighthouse

The geographical location for each of the lighthouses is represented by sparkling gemstones placed on a map of the Outer Banks. We also included the names of the water ways between the mainland and the Outer Banks. The Lighthouses are photo images printed in the coin to give sharp detail of what each lighthouse looks like in accurate detail.

The CoinsAndPins.com team had spent most of 2007 periodically traveling the Outer Banks conducting research and visiting each lighthouse taking photos and plotting coordinates for each. Some of the lighthouses are not easy to get to. Two of the lighthouses, Cape Lookout and Ocracoke, are located in very remote places. They require pre-planning to have ferry reservations and to work around the enormous amount of traffic during the peak tourist season (which can also prevent you from catching a ferry). The weather can turn bad within no time and prevent the ferries from running for days at a time. But after several repeat trips and finally reaching all of them, we have now produced this coin. We even had the opportunity to receive special permissions and see benchmarks that the general public has not seen for many years.

These lighthouses were built as one of the first American government projects when America separated from British control. The Outer Banks were known for having the most amounts of shipwrecks on the entire east coast from Canada to Mexico. Even the USS Monitor (famous Civil War iron clad ship) sank near Cape Hatteras. The first Cape Hatteras lighthouse was destroyed by storms and the current one is still standing today. The current lighthouse (built in 1870) was moved 2000 feet from its original location due to the shifting shore line. It is the tallest lighthouse on the eastern shore. The Currituck lighthouse has no paint on it, and is how Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, and the Cape Lookout lighthouses would look if they had no paint. The paint schemes are for easy identification to ships at sea so they can readily identify which lighthouse they are looking at. All of the five lighthouses are still in working condition. On the eastern side of Cape Hatteras Island is a new Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. This museum houses an old 1st order Fresnel lens that was removed from the original Cape Hatteras lighthouse during the civil war. It was removed by Confederate soldiers to prevent the Union army from gaining control of it. The lens was moved to a few locations during that time and then lost. It was found many years later and finally relocated to the new museum for safe keeping. Even though many parts of the lens are missing, to this day some people have discovered pieces of it on the cape.

If you have never been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, then we highly recommend the trip. It is a great time trying to physically visit each historical lighthouse at this unique geographical location of the world.

* 2.15" tall
* Imitation hard enamel translucent color
* Trackable on Geocaching.com
* If enough are ordered, it will have its own icon that will show in your geocaching profile when you log a find.