A History Of South Carolina Lighthouses

Before radar, depth finders and satellite-guided navigation, long before the seafloor was charted with scientific precision, mariners relied on lighthouses to approach a coastline safely. South Carolina's history with lighthouses goes back nearly two and a half centuries. At Cape Romain, a windmill was converted into a lighthouse. St. Philip's Church in Charleston was converted into a beacon for seafarers to aid navigation to the Holy City. With such a long and storied past, the story of South Carolina's lighthouses is inseparable from its maritime history. Join author John Hairr as he recounts the fascinating history of these beacons that have shone above the shores of the Palmetto State.

Boasting one of the oldest lighthouses in North America and the most working lighthouses today, South Carolina has a long seafaring history. In 1767, the Morris Island Lighthouse was built at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, and before 1860, there were lighthouses in Georgetown, Cape Romain, Bull's Bay, and Hunting Island. During the Civil War, all lighthouses on the eastern coast were darkened. Many were destroyed. After the war, towers that had been damaged were repaired, and additional lights were erected on Daufuskie and Hilton Head Islands. In 1962, the new Charleston Light on Sullivan's Island replaced the Morris Island Lighthouse, which was suffering from erosion by the ever-encroaching sea. The new light contained an elevator and two rotating beacons capable of producing 28 million candlepower, a light that can be seen 26 miles out to sea. At that time, it was considered one of the most powerful lights in the Western Hemisphere.

A stunning, full-color celebration of some of the world’s most famous lighthouses, the shoreline they stand on, and the people who have worked to protect them The lore and history of North Carolina’s seafaring past comes to life in the text by Cheryl Shelton-Roberts and photographs by Bruce Roberts.

A first-time guide to all South Carolina lighthouses and their rich maritime history. Stories abound from a church that served as a range light to a lighthouse on Ft. Sumter and what happened to it during the Civil War and after.

Of the over four dozen lighthouses that once marked the jagged shoreline of North Carolina, only nine still stand, watching over 300 miles of coast. These beacons are cherished monuments of North Carolina history. In addition to warning ships to safer waters, they now draw thousands of visitors each year. With this book, cofounders of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society Cheryl Shelton-Roberts and Bruce Roberts provide a well-researched, human-centered, and beautifully illustrated history of these towering structures. The authors offer stories—including the misadventures of Civil War spies and the threat of looming German U-boats off the North Carolina coast—that provide important context and meaning to the history of North Carolina's lighthouses. From Cape Fear to Currituck Beach, every still-standing lighthouse is lovingly described alongside their architects, builders, and keepers and the sailors who depended on the lighthouses to keep them from harm.

The author presents historical and contemporary photographs of the lighthouses of the Carolinas, stories of how they were built and of the people who lived and worked there, and information concerning visits to the surrounding areas.