AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Outer banks lighthouse keeper12/24/2023 “My best days were out here,” adds Sharp, who now lives in Virginia.įamily stories recall the responsibilities Jennie had as the oldest daughter, helping to care for her siblings and teaching them to cook, clean and crochet. “For the last time, I want to go into every room,” she says, even though that means walking up narrow stairs to the bedroom area. “We had outdoor toilets,” she explains in a more serious tone as she glances out the windows. “There’s the kitchen,” she says with excitement as she eagerly pulls from the grasp of relatives stationed at her sides, while others trail behind, recording the event on video and film. She, too, returns each summer to a home in Frisco.įor Sharp, the reunion provides her first venture inside the keepers’ quarters in eight decades. “I was the only one not born in the keepers’ quarters,” she says, differentiating herself from her sisters. She now lives in Winston-Salem, but her island cottage is still a family haven, especially in the summer months.Ī third sister, Nevada Fulcher Palmer, better known as Day, 79, came from her home in Arlington, Va., for the event. “This should have happened before,” says Sharp’s younger sister, Annie Fulcher Pellegrini, 81, who was about three months old in 1920 when the family moved from the keepers’ quarters to nearby Frisco. Many folks arrive from around the country to find a link to a national treasure. The event, organized by the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, gives new perspective to family stories. They are in the company of other well-known island families - Midgett, Jennette and Austin to name a few.Īll together, nearly 2,000 people come to honor fathers and grandfathers, great-uncles and beyond. “Family is the most important thing,” explains Sharp, now 95 years old.įamily is still a hallmark for the Fulcher clan, as they gather 60-strong for a homecoming of descendants of the Hatteras lightkeepers. He found that balance as an assistant lightkeeper for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, where he served from shortly before Sharp’s birth in 1906 to 1920. The shift to solar panels is the natural solution and aligns with our mission to protect marine environments and living marine resources.Jennie Fulcher Sharp recalls her father, Charles Fulcher, wanting a good job that could allow him to spend time with his family - a family that would eventually include a dozen children. Jerry Barnes, chief of prevention for the 5th District, said "installing a new submarine cable could potentially disturb the coastal environment. The cost to replace it would've been between $2-3 million, according to the USCG.Īt the time of installation, Capt. The last one was powered by an underwater cable which was found to be deteriorated and near failure in 2016. The light has changed almost generationally since the lighthouse was first built. Park rangers say they get complaints almost daily about the light because the LED one is hard to see during the day and it doesn't make the same circular sweeping motion that the previous one did but the old light that did was actually installed just about thirty years ago. The previous light relied on diesel generators and shore power but now the visitor's center, keeper's quarters and lighthouse are totally off-grid. While the National Park Service maintains the national seashore and its facilities, the USCG maintains the light itself. "The thing that stands out to me the most is the awe that people get that haven't seen it before' and the kids, I love watching the kids, they just go "ooh" and when they come back "I climbed all the way to the top!"'Īt the top of the lighthouse, is a solar-powered LED light installed by the U.S Coast Guard in 2017.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |