Lighthouse

Those of you who follow my friend Mike's blog called existinginbfe have read and seen his pictures of the Tybee Island Lighthouse. If you have not please go to existinginbfe.blogspot.com and have a look. Today's post is about the other lighthouse in the area. It is the lighthouse on Cockspur Island. The lighthouse on Tybee Island stands a majestic 144 feet in height. In comparison the Cockspur Island lighthouse stands a mere 46 feet in height. This makes them the tallest and shortest Georgia lighthouses.

This is a picture of the Cockspur Island lighthouse looking back toward Tybee Island. On the right side of the picture you can see the very top of the Tybee Island lighthouse.

The Cockspur Island lighthouse is a the south channel of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek northwest of Tybee Island. It is a part of the Fort Pulaski National Monument. The lighthouse was originally built as a daymarker without lights to indicate the south channel of the Savannah River. Construction began in March 1837 and was completed in November 1839. In 1848 it was retrofitted with lights that shone 9 miles and had a height of 25 feet. It was damaged by a hurricane in 1854 and a larger replacement was built in 1855. The light was extinguished in 1862 during the battle for Fort Pulaski. The lighthouse was in the direct line of the battle but suffered very little damage. It was relit in 1866. The light was finally extinguished on June 1, 1909 because the south channel was infrequently used as the north channel is deeper and wider. The United States Coast Guard relinquished control of the lighthouse to the National Park Service on August 14, 1958.

The lighthouse is unique in the fact that its base is shaped like the prow of a ship to reduce the impact of waves on the structure. It is open to the public but no official tours or accommodations are made. Visitors access the area by kayak. The lighthouse has had some structural work done in an attempt to control the damage being done by tides and shipworms.

If you look closely at the picture above you can see the unique prow shaped base of the lighthouse.

The final picture is one I took on June 11, 2014 so you can see the lighthouse as it appears today. The lighthouse was originally built on Cockspur Island. As you can clearly see it is now surrounded by water. If you have any questions about rising ocean levels this should address that issue. We are being told that about 100 years from now Tybee Island and its lighthouse will suffer the same fate.

In a future post you will be introduced to Florence Martus (the Waving Girl) who was born on Cockspur Island in 1866. Her brother was the lighthouse keeper from 1881 to 1886.