Hatteras community comes together to celebrate the return of a local landmark

On the Outer Banks, it’s rare for a landscape-altering project to gain unlimited support from the community, visitors, and any affiliated organizations, but that was the case with the installation of the new weather tower/flagpole at the U.S. Weather Bureau Station in Hatteras village.

Installed in late June and celebrated at a community ceremony on July 10, the new coastal warning display tower (weather tower) is a minor addition to Hatteras village, but for many residents, it replaces a fixture that has been a part of the community for generations.

The U.S. Weather Bureau, the predecessor to the modern-day National Weather Service, established several weather stations and observation posts in North Carolina as part of a national network of weather stations throughout the late-1800s and early-1900s. Construction of the weather station in Hatteras was completed in 1901 for the cost of $250, and it became operational in 1902.

Though not as famous as nearby landmarks like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Weather Bureau Station had its own brushes with history in the decades that followed. At 11:25 p.m. on April 14, 1912, station operators Richard Dailey and Horace Gaskins received an urgent telegram message reading “CQD [Come Quickly, Distress]: Have Struck Iceberg,” from a vessel 380 miles SSE of Cape Race – which ended up being the very first distress call from the RMS Titanic.

Locally, however, the tower at the station served as Hatteras village’s on-site meteorologist. By looking up at the flags flying at the top of the tower, islanders could quickly recognize if there were blue skies, storms, or even a “Hatteras Low,” (now referred to as a nor’easter), on the horizon.

“When I was a little kid, I would go over there and get my haircut, and walk over here to check the flags out [at the tower],” said Hatteras resident Bruce Ballance, who spearheaded the initiative to reinstall the tower, at Monday’s ceremony in Hatteras. “Then, [years later], I was riding by here, looking at everything, and there was no tower… I thought ‘Something’s wrong here. I want to get the tower back.’”

The tower was unceremoniously removed from the Weather Bureau Station during a 1984 hurricane. With the Weather Station decommissioned in 1946, and modern forecasting tools replacing the old flag system for weather reports, there was no rush to replace the antiquated structure.

But then, around 2017, Ballance posted a locally viral message about the missing tower on Facebook, and the old weather tower popped back up on the community’s radar.

Ballance put the ball in place, but it was Ernie Foster who got it rolling, by taking what Ballance had discovered so far about the missing tower, and connecting with local and federal agencies to rebuild and reinstall the missing structure. In fact, it was a coincidental encounter that helped propel the project forward.

“I was on my way to the bank, and when I came out of the bank, I looked over here in the parking lot, and there was [National Park Service] Superintendent Dave Hallac and the Director of the Monitor Marine Sanctuary, and they were standing here in front of the Weather Bureau,” said Foster. “I kind of interrupted them and told them about this flag idea, and they thought it was a great idea. Then I got in touch with Lee [Nettles of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau] and he thought it was a great idea. So, then I called the NOAA folks down in Newport, and got the same response. And it was like everyone you talked to said ‘That’s a great idea!’”

“It is truly part of the history of this village, and I have yet to talk to anybody who doesn’t think it’s a nice [project] to be taking place, which is pretty exciting,” said Foster.

Despite multiple organizations and community members being on board, the project did have a long delay due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Then in 2022, Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s philanthropic partner, Outer Banks Forever, became connected to the project as well, and longstanding plans to rebuild the tower turned into action.

Outer Banks Forever received a grant from the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, and the new, replacement tower was built within a few months by a contractor in Indiana.

“It came together pretty quickly,” said Jessica Barnes, Director of Outer Banks Forever. “We had to do a little bit of research to find someone that made this specific type of signal tower – it’s not a common thing anymore – but the contractor was able to get it done and [ship] it here from Indiana, so it’s all come together in the past six months.”

Community members and agencies who assisted with the tower project were all in attendance at Monday’s ceremony, as well as about 50-60 residents, many of whom had ties with the original station operators from 1902-1946.

Speakers at Monday’s ceremony represented all of the parties involved in the project – Dave Hallac, Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch, Lee Nettles, Jessica Barnes, Erik Heden of the National Weather Service, Bruce Ballance, and Ernie Foster. And more than one speaker noted the unusual circumstances of launching a community project with unopposed support across the board.

“It’s one of those rare projects that doesn’t seem to make anybody angry,” said Nettles. “So it’s just a pleasure to be here.”

After the series of speakers, DM Gray III assisted stakeholders with raising the first flag on the new station – happily, a white flag that signified “Fair Weather.”

Though Monday’s event drew a modest crowd, and though the tower is a small addition to the local landscape that visitors will have to look up to see, for the many islanders and agencies involved, the event marked a rare moment where a lost landmark was returned to the community.

“[This project] brings back a piece of history,” said Barnes. “And even though we certainly don’t need a signal tower to know what the weather is like these days, because we do all have apps on our phones, it’s really just an important part of this community.”

“It is my sense that all of us who grew up here or who have moved here have the same strong connection to nature, and here in Hatteras – more than most places – weather is a big, big factor in our daily lives,” said Foster.

“When the [Weather Bureau Station was built], it was the most state-of-the-art data collection station anywhere,” added Foster. “Obviously, technology has changed, and it’s no longer necessarily a need, but this building and this flagpole seen as before resonates with me, and it’s just such a very special moment. And I think I speak for the entire village when I say ‘thank you’ to all involved.”