Morris Island Light
Morris Island Lighthouse before stabilization work done in 2010.
|
|
 Morris Island Light
|
|
| Location | Morris Island, South Carolina, Charleston harbor entrance |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°41′43″N 79°53′1″W / 32.69528°N 79.88361°WCoordinates: 32°41′43″N 79°53′1″W / 32.69528°N 79.88361°W |
| Year first lit | 1876 |
| Deactivated | 1962 |
| Foundation | Timber piling, concrete base |
| Construction | Dressed stone |
| Tower shape | Conical |
| Height | 161 feet (49 m) |
| Original lens | First order Fresnel, 1858 |
| Characteristic | |
|
Morris Island Lighthouse
|
|
 
|
|
| Nearest city | Charleston, South Carolina |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1876 |
| NRHP reference # | 82003837 |
| Added to NRHP | June 28, 1982 |
| Heritage | place listed on the National Register of Historic Places 
|
|
[]
|
|
Morris Island Light is a lighthouse on Morris Island in South Carolina. The light stands on the southern side of the entrance to Charleston Harbor, north of the City of Folly Beach. The lighthouse was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The lighthouse is unusual in that it now stands several hundred feet offshore. When constructed in 1876 the light was approximately 1,200 feet (370 m) from the water's edge. However, the construction in 1889 of the jetties which protect the shipping lanes leading to Charleston Harbor altered ocean currents, resulting in the rapid erosion of Morris Island and the destruction of many structures and historical sites (such as Fort Wagner). By 1938 the shoreline had reached the lighthouse, forcing its automation as it was no longer safe or practical to keep it manned. In 1962 the Morris Island Light was decommissioned and replaced by the new Charleston Light, located on Sullivan's Island at the north end of the harbor.
The Morris Island Light, located on Morris Island, at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, SC, was one of the colonial lights turned over to the Federal Government under the terms of the act of August 7, 1789. The light was in a brick tower, built by the Colony of South Carolina in 1767. On May 7, 1800, Congress appropriated $5,000 for repairing the lighthouse. In 1838 the light was described as a revolving light, the tower being 102 feet (31 m) from the base to the lantern. A new first-order lens was installed in the tower on January 1, 1858.
On December 20, 1860, on receiving reports from the lighthouse inspector at Charleston regarding the probable seizure of the lighthouse property by the Confederacy, the Secretary of the Lighthouse Board wrote the Secretary of the Treasury that he would not recommend "that the coast of South Carolina be lighted by the Federal Government against her will." Ten days later the inspector at Charleston informed the Board that "the Governor of the State of South Carolina has requested me to leave the State. I am informed that forcible possession has been taken of the lights, buoys, etc., of this harbor, and that similar measures will be adopted in regard to all lights in the State." Early in January 1861, the Rattlesnake Shoal Lightship was towed into Charleston and the lighthouse tenders were seized. By the latter part of April 1861, practically all lights were extinguished, lightships removed, and other aids removed or destroyed from the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, with the exception of some of the lights on the Florida coast and reefs.
...
Wikipedia