Candy-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Milky Way, Buxton, North Carolina

While immigrating to the soon-to-be United States in 1772, Alexander Hamilton escaped a close call when his ship nearly sank off North Carolina's Outer Banks. So when the young nation's lighthouses were later placed under Treasury Secretary Hamilton's authority, this was the first area he recommended for a new one. 'Hamilton's Light' lasted until just after the Civil War, when the current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built. The tallest lighthouse in the United States from base to top, it had to be painstakingly relocated in 1999 from unstable ground just a few paces from shore. Now set 1,500 feet inland, the 210-foot tower is one of the tallest structures ever moved.