ECONOMICAL STATEMENTS to ICONS of CULTURAL IDENTITY B
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ADAPTIVE LEGACY THE TRANSITION OF LIGHTHOUSES FROM SYMBOLS OF POLITICAL- ECONOMICAL STATEMENTS TO ICONS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY by Lauren Christian May 2017 Director of Thesis: Dr. Lynn Harris Major Department: Program in Maritime Studies of Department of History Lighthouses on the eastern coast, North Carolina are iconic monuments of the scenic and historic landscape of the Outer Banks. The job for which these lighthouses were specifically designed was to aid mariners in navigating treacherous waters. The advancement of modern navigational equipment has diminished the necessity of these lighthouses for that function. However, the lighthouses also have a separate complex and symbolic purpose connected to the values and ideology of the organizations that fund and supported them. Historically, their purpose was to project the ideologies of the government responsible for their construction, design, and maintenance to the foreign and national mariners that relied upon them. Today, the National Parks Service, private organizations, and community associations manage the lighthouses on the Outer Banks for heritage tourism with the goal of positively increasing public interest in lighthouse history. With the increase in public access to the lighthouses, there is the potential hazard of compromising the structural integrity of the buildings. This thesis will study the historic preservation management strategies of three North Carolina lighthouses as case studies: Bald Head Island (Old Baldy), Cape Hatteras, and Currituck Beach lighthouses. i The study evaluates the historic function and purpose of these lighthouses to understand the circumstances of their creation, examines the level of public access and management actions taken to date to determine the effectiveness of their preservation, and the values and opinions of the local community members towards these sites as cultural and historical resources. By studying the transition of their purpose, lighthouses may be seen simultaneously as historic properties with significance that extends beyond their function as navigational aids and includes their purpose as symbols of an institutional ideology and cultural identity. ii iii ADAPTIVE LEGACY THE TRANSITION OF LIGHTHOUSES FROM SYMBOLS OF POLITICAL- ECONOMICAL STATEMENTS TO ICONS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY A Thesis Presented To the Faculty of the Program in Maritime Studies of Department of History East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Maritime Studies by Lauren Christian May 2017 i Copyright 2017, Lauren Christian ii ADAPTIVE LEGACY THE TRANSITION OF LIGHTHOUSES FROM SYMBOLS OF POLITICAL- ECONOMICAL STATEMENTS TO ICONS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY by Lauren Christian APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS: _______________________________________________________________ (Lynn Harris, Ph.D.) COMMITTEE MEMBER: _________________________________________________ (Nathan Richards, Ph.D.) COMMITTEE MEMBER: _________________________________________________ (Wade Dudley, Ph.D.) COMMITTEE MEMBER: _________________________________________________ (Christine Avenarius, Ph.D.) CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY: ___________________________________________________________ (Christopher Oakley, Ph.D.) DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL: ___________________________________________________ (Paul J. Gemperline, Ph.D.) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who contributed to the success of this thesis. This adventure would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of my parents. My deepest thanks to my thesis advisor, Dr. Lynn Harris, and members of my committee, Drs. Wade Dudley, Nathan Richards, and Christine Avenarius for their guidance and advice throughout this process. Thanks also to all my other professors for the inspiration their classes provided. My sincerest gratitude also extends to Jami Lanier, archivist at Fort Raleigh in Manteo, NC, for her assistance with the Cape Hatteras lighthouse records. Also thanks to Chris Webb, the director of the Old Baldy Foundation, for her cooperation and assistance in providing me internal records for my research. Finally, many thanks to Meghan Agresto, the site manager of the Currituck Beach lighthouses, for her enthusiasm in aiding my research and allowing me access to her site records. I also extend my gratitude to the staff at the Outer Banks History Center in Manteo, at ECU North Carolina Collection Library, and at the Library of Congress and U.S. Coast Guard Archives in Washington, DC for all their assistance in consulting their records. Thanks also to the National Park Service Preservation, Training, and Technology Grant that enabled my field work on Bald Head Island. Finally, I would also like to thank my classmates and peers. To those that directly helped by carpooling to Manteo or editing my chapters, those that invited me for meals, and those that provided social opportunities to unwind and take a break. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Research Questions ........................................................................................................................ 14 Primary Research Question .................................................................................................................... 15 Secondary Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 15 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2: Methodology ................................................................................................... 18 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 18 Historical Research ......................................................................................................................... 19 Historic Preservation and Public Access Research ............................................................. 21 Stakeholder and Sense of Place Research ............................................................................... 22 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 3: History of the Lighthouses’ Purpose ...................................................... 26 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 26 The Creation of American Identity ............................................................................................ 28 The Unification of American Identity ....................................................................................... 34 The Reaffirmation of American Identity ................................................................................. 40 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 4: Historic Preservation and Public Access .............................................. 47 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 47 Institutionalization of Historic Preservation Legislation ................................................. 49 Condition and Public Access Ratings ........................................................................................ 55 Condition Rating .............................................................................................................................. 56 Old Baldy Lighthouse ................................................................................................................................. 57 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse ........................................................................................................................ 60 Currituck Beach Lighthouse ................................................................................................................... 63 Public Access Rating ....................................................................................................................... 66 Old Baldy Lighthouse ................................................................................................................................. 67 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse ........................................................................................................................ 69 Currituck Beach Lighthouse ..................................................................................................................