Sapelo Island Light

Infobox Lighthouse


caption = Sapelo Island Light
location = Darien, Georgia
coordinates = coord|31.392|N|81.2852|W
yearbuilt =1820
yearlit =1820
automated =
yeardeactivated = 1905 to 1998
foundation =
construction = Brick
shape = Conical
marking = 6 alternate red and white horizontal
elevation =
height = convert|80|ft|m|abbr=on
currentlens =
lens = Lewis lamp (1820)
Fourth order Fresnel lens (1854)
intensity =
range =
characteristic = Fixed white varied by a white flash every 45 s

Sapelo Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Georgia,
United States, near the southern tip of Sapelo Island, Georgia. It is the nation's second-oldest brick lighthouse and the oldest survivor of Winslow Lewis lighthouse projects.

History

Sapelo Island Lighthouse was built in 1820. It was designed and built by Winslow Lewis. It had a fifteen Lewis lamps with convert|16|in|cm|abbr=on reflectors. In the 1850s, the tower was raised by convert|10|ft|m|abbr=on and a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed in 1854. During the Civil War, the lens was removed. It was extensively repaired after a 1867 storm and relit in 1868. The tower was damaged by a hurricane in 1898.

The lighthouse was replaced in 1905 by the a pyramidal convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on skeletal tower with a third-oder Fresnel lens. This tower was dismantled and relocated in 1934 to South Fox Island, Michigan.

Sapelo Island Lighthouse was inactive from 1905 to 1998, and is now privately maintained and unofficial. The original lighthouse was renovated to its 1890 appearance in 1998 when it was relit. [http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHGA.html U.S. Coast Guard history of Sapelo Island Light] [Roberts, Bruce, and Jones, Ray, "Southern Lighthouses: Outer Banks to Cape Florida", 3rd ed., Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT, 2002, p. 57, ISBN 0-7627-1243-0.] [http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=326 Lighthouse Friends history]

References