Where Have All the Sand Grains Gone

Where has all the sand gone that we've seen disappearing from the ocean sides of the Outer Banks?  I stood on it in the hills near Buxton, or at least a good portion of it.  Notice in this satellite view how the south-moving sand swings around the point where the island bends westward.  See how it spills out on the south shore to the west.  Called Cape Hatteras, this is where sand that eroded all the way up the Outer Banks finds its rest.

They built a lighthouse just north of the Cape in 1870 to guide sailors around the shallows.  Placed near the eastern shore, fifteen hundred feet back from the ocean, they thought it would last.  The left picture, taken in 1999 shows what has happened to that buffer and the rock groins they built to save the lighthouse.  Remember this is on the eroding side.  The right picture shows the path where they moved the largest brick lighthouse in the U.S. inland to where I am pictured with it below. 

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in its new home.

loblolly pine

loblolly pine

Because sand has been accreting on the south shore for many thousands of years, an extensive forest has come there to live.  Buxton Woods is sand dunes so vegetated that I see no sand.  As the island widens southward, salt spray diminishes inland, allowing live oak and loblolly pine to get big and shade out the shrubs.

dwarf palmetto,
a palm near the northern limit for palms.

Fresh water ponds and marshes
called sedges

In the swamps, fresh water rests on saltwater below.  

I spent most of a rainy day in Buxton woods, completely alone, but then I returned again to the east coast for a final look at unrelenting erosion and ways people attempt to stop it. 

A group of houses in peril like sinking ships.  Great pillows of sand in tough bags, a spread of huge caviar, an offering to the sea. 

This house is ready to be hauled away to a safer place.