Celebrating Beaufort District's Lighthouses and Range Lights

Please note: This post was updated 24 July 2021. All information and links were accurate as of this date. -- Grace Cordial

During the colonial period of American history, lighthouses were privately owned. The first tower  erected in England's the American colonies to aid navigation was located on Little Brewster Island near Boston. The first official lighthouse became operational in 1746 also in the Massachusetts colony on Nantucket Island. When the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789, one of the responsibilities of the new national government was interstate commerce. Thus in 1789, the US approved an "Act for the establishment and support of lighthouse, beacons, buoys, and public piers" took over the care of lighthouses from their previous owners. In 1852, the government set up the Lighthouse Board which eventually was transformed into the Lighthouse Service by 1910. The Lighthouse Service was responsible for managing and supervising lighthouses and lightships. In 1939 the U.S. Coast Guard became responsible for overseeing the lighthouses. 

The United States Lighthouse Society hosts lots of excellent educational information about past and current lighthouses and light tenders on its website.

In 1989 the Congress honored the bicentennial of the federal responsibility for lighthouses and marine navigation with a "National Lighthouse Day." The Hon. William J. Hughes of New Jersey said: This celebration "will provide some long overdue recognition for the important role which lighthouses played in the history of our country ... [including] protecting our coasts to guiding our sailors." Since 1989 fans of lighthouses has kept the celebration though it is not on the official holiday calendar. 

South Carolina has 10 lighthouses and one facsimile lighthouse. Only the Georgetown Light on North Island and the Charleston Light on Sullivan's Island are still maintained and operated by the United States Coast Guard. There are five structures commonly called lighthouses in Beaufort County today though some are actually range lights and one is not truly a lighthouse at all: 

1. Bloody Point Rear Range Light (1883)

2. Haig Point Rear Range Light (1873)

3. Harbour Town Lighthouse (1970)

4. Hunting Island Lighthouse (1859, 1875, 1889)

5. Hilton Head Rear Range Light (1881) 

Which of course, begs the question: "What is the difference between a lighthouse and a range light?" 

According to the United States Lighthouse Society, lighthouses have only one light while range lights consist of two lights and usually help guide boats into a river's channel. The front range light is the shorter of the two; the rear range light is always taller than the front range light. When you are on course to enter the river properly, the two lights will line up one on top of the other. If you go off course, the difference in the height of the two range lights will let the navigator know whether to steer left or right to get back on course. 

Haig Point and Bloody Point range lights are on Daufuskie Island. The Haig Point front light was destroyed by erosion. According to Jenny Hersch's and Sallie Ann Robinson's Daufuskie Island (2018), the Haig Point Rear Light had three lighthouse keepers between 1873 and 1924: Patrick Comer; Richard Stonebridge; and Charles L. Sisson. The Haig Point Rear Range Light still stands on Daufuskie Island. The Bloody Point Range lights were also subjected to erosion and relocated. Among lighthouse keepers for Bloody Point were John Michael Doyle and Gustaf Ohman. 

(BDC Postcard Collection)

 

The Harbour Town Lighthouse was built as part of the Sea Pines Plantation development as an iconic easily recognizable feature in tourist brochures and as a background for broadcasters with the goal of publicizing the resort. It is termed a facsimile light.

(BDC Postcard Collection)

The Hilton Head Rear Range Light is also called the Leamington Light. It is located Hole 5 of the Arthur Hills Golf Course in Palmetto Dunes Plantation. During World War II a unit of the Coast Guard 6th Naval District Mounted Beach Patrol watched for German submarines from Camp McDougall which was located around the rear range light beginning in 1942.  

(Hunting Island by Culp, 1950s;  copyright owned by BDC)

The first Hunting Island Lighthouse was built of brick and completed in 1859. When the Civil War broke out, Confederates destroyed the lighthouse in order to prevent the Union Navy from using it as an aid to navigation. A new lighthouse was built in 1875 though encroachment of the sea required that it be moved in 1889 to a spot one mile distant. The 130 feet stall 1889 structure is now within the Hunting Island State Park. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1933. It is the only lighthouse in South Carolina that is accessible to the general public. You can read about its history on the Hunting Island State Park website.

 

The Beaufort District Collection Research Room has some unique materials about our local lights: 

• South Carolina Lighthouses: 15 Historic postcards by Margie Willis Clary, 2008
• "Lighthouses" vertical file is full of magazine and newspaper clippings about Beaufort's lights
• "Hunting Island State Park - Lighthouse" vertical file is full of magazine and newspaper clippings about the only open-to-the-general-public lighthouse in South Carolina
• Special Presentation, 150th Lighthouse Anniversary: October 16th - 18th [2009], Grand Ceremony [DVD] and a poster, "Interpretive Lighthouse Tour : November 9th and 30th [2017]."

Check out the DVD of the award winning documentary by Suzanne Larsen and Paul Keyserling, A Light on Treacherous Waters: The Story of the Hunting Island, South Carolina, Light Station, from the local history section of your favorite branch library. 

Hoopla, Beaufort County Library's service for e- and audio books, music, and streaming video, has over 100 items with the keyword "Lighthouses" for children, teens and adults to borrow. I suggest that you start with A History of South Carolina Lighthouses by John Hairr. 

Gentle Reminder for readers of this post in 2021: Limited access to the BDC Research Room continues. Be sure to contact us in advance to make the necessary arrangements. Email gracec@bcgov.net or phone 843-255-6446 to start the process. Please be aware that emails and phone calls are answered only during regular business hours when BDC staff is available to respond to your inquiries.