TanksPanky: FTJ. Entry 21: Mad Hatter-as?

First, as promised, a photo of the house used in the Nights in Rodanthe movie. It was moved from its movie location due to the erosion of the shoreline. Very unusual house.

And here is JoBob's store, featured during the hurricane prep scene (for those who know the movie), where people were buying supplies.

On Sunday we had glorious weather -- very little wind! -- so we headed to see the United States' tallest lighthouse, the Cape Hatteras Light -- the "big barber pole." In 1999 it was moved a half mile or so inland, to protect it from the encroaching Atlantic Ocean. Built in 1870, lighthouse keepers of old had to haul 80 gallons of fuel all the way up the structure - - every day -- to keep it lit, a climb equivalent to going up a 12-story building. Fuel at first was whale oil, then kerosene. Some info on fuel, etc:

Originally, the lamp oil for the light was stored in large, round metal containers called oil butts. They were large brass or tin tanks that ranged in size from 50 to 100 gallons each. They stood upright and were set side by side on masonry or wooden elevated shelves in the alcoves. Each one had a petcock at the bottom from which the keeper would draw his daily supply of lamp oil into his oil can. He then carried the oil cans up the tower to fuel the lamps. The large, cubic 350 gallon tank at the base of the tower replaced numerous oil butts with one centralized storage tank. Other gear may have also been kept in the alcoves.

The lighthouse was electrified in 1934. It's a beauty!

We saw some lovely homes, and views.

Okay, so here is where the weirdness (Mad Hatter-as) comes in...as we drove further down toward Cape Hatteras Village, it felt like the Twilight Zone -- off season there is REALLY quiet, with hardly anything open, hardly anyone out and about.

And then, this (I put together two photos to give you an idea of the entirety of this particular place):

Here, more detail:

What the heck??

And then this in someone's front yard -- torpedo shark:

For a fishing mecca, it seems like Cape Hatteras has a weirdness quotient. The town (if you can call it that), is about 30 some miles from where we are in the Outer Banks. But oddness is dialed up a notch or two.

The area is filled with history, though. Beyond the Wright Brothers, the Outer Banks is a shipwreck graveyard. There's a whole museum dedicated to the many wrecks around the Banks. Among them, the famous USS Monitor: