Our country has so many beautiful areas, but the southern coast is my favorite. I attribute my love of these towns neighboring the ocean to the old lighthouses that line the coast. Some still function and serve essential purposes to warn seafaring captains of the dangers lurking near the shore and as all-important visual-navigational tools. Modern-day satellite imagery and navigation have not entirely replaced the lighthouse.
When we lived in Savannah, Georgia, I was fascinated with the lighthouse on Tybee Island. My dad shared my fascination, and we visited often. I didn’t realize that it was Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse. Part of the original structure, standing today, was built in 1773. With walls at the base that are 12 feet thick, the Tybee lighthouse was constructed to withstand hurricane-force winds; obviously, the builders knew what they were up against. While living in Savannah, I experienced what the weather guy called the tail-end of a hurricane.
The sky was as black as night, and the wind violently blew the tall skinny palm trees until they bent down, almost kissing the cobblestone streets. I can’t imagine the destructive power of the full-force winds of a major hurricane.
The first coastal warning-type structure on Tybee Island was built around 1732. James Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament and a British soldier, established the first colony on Tybee Island. Oglethorpe ordered the construction of a tower (no light). It was completed in 1736 and toppled by a storm in 1741. Thomas Sumner constructed a sturdier replacement tower a year later, using wood and stone. There was no light, only a very tall flagpole on top. The second attempt eventually eroded in violent storms and was swept away. In 1773 John Mullryne made a successful third attempt and constructed the lighthouse a little farther from the shoreline than previous structures. The base of that third construction supports the lighthouse on Tybee Island today.
In 1779, the lighthouse was mentioned in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, a British newspaper in Oxfordshire, England. During the War for Independence, European newspapers relied on letters from troops in the then colony for their reporting. This particular article announced the arrival of a fleet of His majesty’s ships, under Commodore Peter Parker’s command, supporting General Clinton’s troops.
In 1790, Georgia officially joined the former colonies in the United States of America, and the Tybee Island lighthouse became the federal government’s property.
It was first lit with candles and reflectors, which were later replaced with oil lamps. In 1857, the reflectors were replaced with a Fresnel lens. Fresnel lens(s) were in use in 18th century England, but it was not until 1810 that they made their way to America. To me, the concentric layers of reflecting lens on the upper portion of a lighthouse are beautiful.
The weather has always been a challenge for the Lighthouse and the ships it serves. An 1833 article in a Scottish newspaper, the Aberdeen Journal, reports the loss of a new ship loaded with expensive cargo after it was struck by lightning and caught fire after setting sail from Tybee.
The Tybee lighthouse was burned and the lens removed during the Civil War. It also sustained damage from hurricanes. In 1866, the government appropriated $20,000 to repair and reconstruct the Tybee lighthouse and the second tower, approximately 1000 feet away. The following year, $34,443 was needed to finish the project, which Congress approved. The lighthouse’s base remained intact after the fire, and the rebuild extended the height to 154 feet. A larger Fresnel lens, now known as the Tybee light, was installed and is still in place today. The lens magnifies at 30,000 candle power light and is visible for eighteen miles out to sea.
