Posted on July 29, 2026
MANTEO, N.C. (WAVY) – Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) announced that a small section of the beach in Buxton will be closed beginning Aug. 3.
The closure comes as CHNS gets ready to begin repairs on a groin near the former site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This is part of the county’s beach renourishment project.
The Seashore is closing 300 feet of beach north and south of the project site.
At the same time, CHNS is planning to repair a jetty along the coastline. Both projects, officials hope, will slow down erosion and strengthen the coastline. 10 On Your Side’s Nick Broadway and Ethan Krauss have been reporting on the beach renourishment plan’s progress.
“With the groin project, when we repair it, in connection or conjunction with finishing the Buxton Nourishment Project, our belief is that sand accretion will start to take place,” said Dare County Projects Manager Dustin Peele. “So, sand will build up from the ground and work its way north.”
“We can’t lose Highway 12 or we lose all access for emergency services, for trash, for our citizens to go to the doctor, or go to church, or go to the grocery store, or whatever,” Outten said. “So that’s the primary function. By protecting Highway 12 with beach nourishment, it also protects the oceanfront structures that are there.”
CHNS warns people that ignoring the closures and going into restricted areas could delay construction further, and point people towards the Old Lighthouse Beach instead, which will remain open.
For updates and more information on the project, visit www.darenc.gov/government/projects-on-the-horizon/current-projects.
