St Simons Island GA Lights Out Suns Up St Simons Island Lighthouse Sunrise Art

by Reid Callaway

Title

St Simons Island GA Lights Out Suns Up St Simons Island Lighthouse Sunrise Art

Artist

Reid Callaway

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

St Simons Island GA Lights Out Suns Up....by Reid Callawy
St Simons Island Lighthouse Sunrise Art

The light on the St Simons Island Georgia Lighthouse has just gone out as the light of the sunrise increases. I captured this image three week after Hurricane Matthew swept the Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina coasts. There was very little damage in this area by the storm except a few downed trees and limbs. Compared to Katrina this was nothing. PTL

The St. Simons Island Light is a lighthouse on the southern tip of St. Simons Island, Georgia, United States. It guides ships into St. Simons Sound and warns of the many sandbars in the area.

The original St. Simons Island lighthouse, which was built in 1810, was a 75-foot-tall (23 m) early federal octagonal lighthouse topped by a 10-foot (3.0 m) oil-burning lamp. During the American Civil War, U.S. military forces employed a Naval blockade of the coast. An invasion by Union troops in 1862 forced Confederate soldiers to abandon the area. The retreating troops destroyed the lighthouse to prevent it from being an aid to the navigation of Union warships.

The U.S. government constructed a new lighthouse to replace the original, building it to the west of the original's location. It is a 104-foot (32 m) brick structure completed in 1872 and was outfitted with a third-order, biconvex Fresnel lens. The lens is one of 70 such lenses that remain operational in the United States. Sixteen of those are in use on the Great Lakes, of which eight are in Michigan. The rotating lens projects four beams of light, with one strong flash every 60 seconds. A cast iron spiral stairway with 129 steps leads to the galley (or watch/service room). In 1876, the lighthouse was overhauled.

May 26, 2004, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.
The light mechanism is maintained by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
The St. Simons Lighthouse, along with the northernmost water tower on Jekyll Island, creates the demarcation line that separates St. Simons Sound from the Atlantic Ocean.
The lighthouse is a picturesque and beloved symbol of St. Simons Island, and Glynn County, Georgia. It is the subject of many paintings and other artistic renderings.

In 2010, the St. Simons Island lighthouse underwent a major renovation. It was closed to the public for several months while all interior and exterior paint was sandblasted off, and then repainted. Eight iron handrail posts at the top of the tower were replaced, having been recast from one of the originals. All ironwork was sandblasted and repaired as needed. Great lengths were taken to protect the valuable Fresnel lens during the restoration. It was bubble wrapped, shrink wrapped, and then finally enclosed in a plywood box. A temporary spotlight attached to the galley of the lighthouse continued to guide ships into the Sound while the main light was out of operation.

The Coastal Georgia Historical Society allows visitors to climb up the 129 steps of the lighthouse tower and operates the St. Simons Lighthouse Museum in the 1872 keeper's house.
The Society's headquarters are located in the adjacent A. W. Jones Heritage Center, which includes exhibits, the Society's archives, a research library, event hall, museum shop, and administrative offices.
The Society also operates the Maritime Center at the Historic Coast Guard Station in St. Simons.

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November 5th, 2016

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