Events mark 150th anniversary of Hunting Island lighthouse

At first, the lighthouse was a 95-foot-tall tower of reddish gray brick. Its light warned of dangerous reefs and sandbars hidden in St. Helena Sound.

The look and purpose of the Hunting Island Lighthouse has changed since it was first erected 150 years ago. But still it stands, a beacon of Beaufort County history.

To honor that fact, Friends of Hunting Island is hosting a 150th anniversary celebration of the lighthouse Oct. 16-18.

"It's a historic moment for this county," said Bonnie Wright, president of Friends of Hunting Island, a nonprofit volunteer-driven conservation group for the island.

In its prime, the lighthouse served as a navigation aid to ships carrying indigo, rice and cotton that frequented the busy ports in Charleston and Savannah.

The lighthouse in its original form was completed in July 1859. But it didn't last more than two years, a casualty of the Civil War. Confederate troops blew up the lighthouse to hinder the advance of the Union before the Battle of Port Royal. Its rubble now rests about two miles north of the Hunting Island shore.

Construction of a new lighthouse began in 1873 and finished two years later, delayed by fears of a malaria outbreak. It was placed about a quarter mile inland, but built with the idea that the eroding beach might necessitate a relocation. It's shell consisted of 160 cast iron panels, each weighing 1,200 pounds. The top third of the 133-foot-tall structure was painted black, so sea travelers could see it by day. At night, its light was visible from 18 miles out at sea.

A keeper and two assistants manned the lighthouse, and their families lived in a 12-room house built next to the tower. Hunting Island was only accessible by boat, and the families were more than a day's travel away from Beaufort. Their few visitors were men who had come to hunt in the island's wilderness or the ships that arrived bringing oil, mail and supplies.

The entire lighthouse and keeper's house had to be moved in 1887, as the sea drew closer to the tower. The relocation took four months, moving it 11/4 miles inland.

By the turn of the century, trade along the coast had slowed. The Great Depression was the final blow to the lighthouse. It was decommissioned in 1933, replaced by a lighted whistle buoy.

Shortly after, the island became a state park. Now, the lighthouse is a private aid to navigation and tourist attraction. More than a million visitors frequent the park each year, some climbing the 175 steps in the only South Carolina historic lighthouse open to the public.

Suzanne Larson wrote and produced a documentary about the history of the lighthouse in 1991 for ETV called "A Light On Treacherous Waters." Nearly 20 years later, she returned to the material to create a play for the 150th anniversary that tells the story of the light keepers and their families. To her, what's inspiring about the lighthouse is its solitude and sense of history, a representation of a time long past.

"I just love being in it and getting a sense of beauty and wonder," she said.