Georgetown Lighthouse
Georgetown Lighthouse
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Description: Georgetown, named in honor of England’s King George I, became an official port in 1732, and by the time of the revolution was an important center of commerce. Acres of Cypress swamps were cleared and over 780 miles of canals were dug, creating the second largest rice cultivation culture the world has known. Another important cash crop also raised at Georgetown was Indigo, used to make a blue dye. The history of these important crops is told in the Rice Museum, located in the Georgetown Historic District.
Ships trading in these commodities reached Georgetown by passing between the appropriately named North and South Islands to enter Winyah Bay and then continuing another fourteen miles upstream. In 1789, Revolutionary War Patriot Paul Trapier donated a tract of land on North Island for the establishment of the Georgetown Lighthouse. However, the newly formed Lighthouse Service did not take immediate advantage of the offer, and another decade passed before construction began on the Georgetown Lighthouse.
The seventy-two-foot, pyramidal tower, constructed of Cypress wood, was finished in the early part of 1801, during the final days of John Adams’ presidency. Besides the tower, a two-story keeper’s dwelling was built along with a tank for holding the whale oil that fueled the lighthouse’s lamp. The wooden tower’s life was cut short by a violent storm in 1806.
Click to view enlarged imageSeveral years passed before a replacement structure was built. A marble plaque positioned above the door records the names of those who undertook the work on the tower and records the year of its erection as 1811. This time the seventy-two-foot tower was constructed of brick, greatly reducing the chance that a big, bad gale would blow the lighthouse down. The staircase that spirals upwards inside the stout brick tower is made of stone. In 1857, the tower was modified to display a fourth-order Fresnel lens.
When the Civil War broke out, the Confederates used the Georgetown Lighthouse as a lookout station, until Union forces captured it in May of 1862. The lighthouse was heavily damaged during the North-South conflict, and as part of the post-war repair work, the tower was heightened to eighty-seven feet.
The Georgetown Lighthouse was manned until 1986, when the Coast Guard automated the light. Two years later, the seven-acre site was leased to the Department of Juvenile Justice, who used the facility for a marine rehabilitation program for juvenile offenders. The program was discontinued after a short period due to maintenance difficulties.
As stipulated in the will of former Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, South Island and all of North Island, save the lighthouse acreage, was bequeathed to the South Carolina Heritage Trust, creating the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Preserve. In 2001, the lighthouse property was added to the preserve. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and with it now under state control, the tower will hopefully be restored and one day open to the public. In addition to the lighthouse, an oil house, brick cistern, and more modern Coast Guard structures remain standing. A fifth-order Fresnel lens used in the Georgetown Lighthouse is on display at the Coast Guard station in Georgetown (Photograph provided by Mark Childers, Georgetown ANT).
References
1. Lighthouses of the Carolinas: A Short History and Guide, Terrance Zepke, 1998.
2. Southeastern Lighthouses: Outer Banks to Cape Florida, Ray Jones, 1998.
Location: Located on North Island on the northern side of the entrance to Winyah Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse is about 12.5 miles from Georgetown.
Latitude: 33.22267
Longitude: -79.18511
Travel Instructions: The lighthouse is best seen by boat. During the summer, Rover Tours offers a trip aboard the Carolina Rover that stop at the Georgetown Lighthouse. Rover Tours is located on the Harborwalk in historic downtown Georgetown. Call (800) 705-9063 for more information.
For a more personal tour, Captain George Gallager offers Lighthouse Tours to Georgetown Lighthouse and/or Cape Romain Lighthouse.
The lighthouse is owned by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Grounds open, tower closed.
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