Inside New Cape Henery

[Weasel58]

In the “On the Inside Looking Out” tread I posted a picture of Old Cape Henry lighthouse taken from the lantern of New Cape Henry. Hersh stated that one of his desires was to climb New Cape Henry. I was lucky enough to talk my way into a climb back in 2003. Hersh the following pictures are for you in the hope that someday soon you too get inside of NCH.

This photo was taken from the base of the lighthouse looking up towards the bottom of the watch room. I was very surprised at the colors of the stairs. I am used to seeing greens, blacks, and grays.



This photo shows the first landing. If you have ever visited Ponce Inlet you will notice that the landings and stairs in NCH are similar in design. The main difference is that Ponce’s landings are about half of the tower’s inner diameter, and NCH’s are about ¾ the tower’s inner diameter. Also note the panels in the window alcove one on each side near the floor, on the next landing one of these would give me an interesting look into the tower.



On the second landing I photographed the inlaid tile floor at the base of the tower. This was another of the things that really surprised me about NCH



Also on the second landing I noticed a panel was off in the window alcove so I had to see what was behind it. I opened the panel a little more and could see inside of the wall. There is an air space of about 2 feet wide between the inner and outer walls. The bottom of this airspace is cast iron with a grate pattern. I could feel air blowing through the grate. The docent stated that this had been constructed this way to aid in supplying air to the lantern back when the light was powered by flame.



Well here we are on the stairs into the lantern. I leaned into the base of the lens and took this picture.



I love taking photos of the horizon as seen through Fresnel lens. This photo is of the area to the northwest of the tower.



Well I don’t want to overstay my time here as the docent wasn’t supposed to let me in here in the first place, so I say a farewell to the lantern and begin my decent back to the base. I owed the docent a huge thank you when I got down!

[Leah Loar-Mays]

Very nice, Eric!!!

[Hersh]

That is SWEET!!! I am again very jealous... Nice job talking your way in and for getting those photos of what you saw.

Thanks for posting these.

[Red]

Eri,
Great shots! I too had the fortune to climb NCH and was most impressed with the first order lense but also the beautiful mosiac tile floors at the entery level. I haven't seen any other lighthouse with such unusual tile floors. An added bonus to a very cool light. RED

[vacastle]

Great shots, Eric! I've also climbed this one a couple of times. The entry has always impressed me too.
I've spent some quality time there with some of our LH.Net members too, roaming the grounds. Enjoyed your photos!

Judy

[Weasel58]

Judy, how are you? Weren't you with the group that climbed NCH and Old Point Comfort that Dave H. organized after the Portsmouth Harbour Lights regional back a few years ago?

I also seem to remember you have climbed Bodie Island in the past.

Most of my pictures are from my first climb with just the docent, but the pic of the floor is from the post regional climb. I had to crop out the people on the stairs. The problem with my photo of the tile floor from my first climb is that the hoist is in the middle of the floor covering the biggest of the designs in the tile.

[vacastle]

Yes, Eric, I was indeed on that trip with you, and have some neat pictures (of you) to prove it. Remember the lobster red sunburn you had? And yes, I've also been very fortunate to have climbed Bodie a few times, and once along side John Gaskill, who was not breathing hard like I was.

Judy