Revisit to St Simons Lighthouse, St Simons Island, Georgia

Didn't have the stamp for this location, so went back and got it today.....


Also picked up several historical markers around the area. 

The beautiful two-story, brick keepers' dwelling and the white, 104-foot tower on St. Simons Island today seem like the idyllic light station, but such was not always the case. The station was considered isolated before being linked to the mainland, and one of the head keepers was murdered on the lighthouse grounds. In addition, stagnant ponds on the island provided the perfect breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, which led to the death of two men overseeing construction of the lighthouse.

Congress appropriated $7,000 on March 16, 1804 for a lighthouse on Saint Simons Island, and John Couper, owner of a plantation on the southern end of the island, sold four acres of his land to the government later that year for a token sum of one dollar. Couper was anxious that a lighthouse be built on the island to aid commerce in the Brunswick area.

The original appropriation reverted to the treasury in 1806, but Congress provided the much larger sum of $19,000 on March 3, 1807 for the project. In April of 1807, Couper's plan of getting a lighthouse on his property seemed to have worked as a notice appeared in the Savannah Advertiser soliciting a builder with sufficient skills to erect a lighthouse on the southern end of St. Simons Island. The plans called for a lighthouse constructed of brick in the form of an octagon, supported by a stone foundation and secured by a substantial panel door with iron hinges.

James Gould, newly arrived from New England, answered the ad and suggested that the tower be constructed of tabby, a local building material made from a mixture of lime, water, sand and oyster shells, and that some other minor alterations to the design be made. Gould's suggestions were accepted, and he was awarded the contract.

Gould used the ruins of Fort Frederica, which was built on the island in 1736, as a source for the tabby, and completed the seventy-five-foot tower in late 1810 at a cost of $13,775. Oil lamps suspended on chains served as the original light source.

With St. Simons Lighthouse finished, Gould was now out of work, but the following excerpt from a letter exchanged between two of his sisters reveals his time at the lighthouse was not yet done.

James has been officially appointed Keeper of the Light by President Madison, at a salary of $400 a year. The appointment came 4 May and he was, in spite of the small pay, plainly pleased to be trusted with the keeping of his beloved lighthouse. He appears also proud of the tower, so far, but what he insists is my discontent, I feel is somehow his own. I simply try to make him laugh and attempt to understand what it is he really wants to do with his life once the lighthouse is completed and he has been its keeper long enough to be satisfied that the lantern and all else is in order.

Apparently Gould was not too discontented with his life at the lighthouse as he served as keeper for twenty-seven years.

A residence was evidently not built with the lighthouse as James Gould was paid $1,700 in 1830 to build a keeper's dwelling. In 1838, it was noted that the tower's eight-inch reflectors were too small. This problem was corrected in 1847 when nine lamps with fourteen-inch reflectors were installed in the lantern room. In 1856, the lighthouse was outfitted with a third-order Fresnel lens.

When Confederate troops abandoned the island in 1862, they dynamited the tower and keeper's cottage, so they would not benefit Union forces.

Following the Civil War, noted Georgia architect Charles B. Cluskey drew up plans for a new lighthouse and dwelling on the island for which Congress had appropriated $45,000 on March 2, 1867. In the fall of 1869, a contract for the project was awarded to the lowest bidder with a completion date around the middle of the following year. Difficulties in procuring materials and landing them at the site resulted in the completion date being pushed back to November 1, 1870, but even this date would prove too ambitious. During the summer months, there was a great deal of sickness at the site, and the contractor fell ill and died. One of the contractor's bondsmen stepped in to complete the work, but he also passed away at the lighthouse.

The surviving bondsman stepped in in November 1871, when the lighthouse stood at fifty-one feet, and over the next several months managed to complete the impressive Victorian duplex and 104-foot tower. The light from a third-order, L. Sautter Fresnel lens was first shown on September 1, 1872. The lens is a fixed lens, meaning it does not contain any flash panels and thus produces a steady light, however, there are four flash panels that revolve around the outside of the lens producing a bright flash once per minute. Originally, the panels produced alternating red and white flashes, with intervals of one minute.

The keepers at the new lighthouse repeatedly complained about the unhealthy living conditions on the island. The Lighthouse Board finally took action in 1875 and drained the ponds near the lighthouse. Seeds of the Eucalyptus globulus tree were also planted at the station, as the trees were believed to neutralize the noxious gases that caused malaria. Only later was it learned that the trees helped prevent malaria by consuming large quantities of water, thus helping to drain the swampy areas where mosquitoes bred.

On a Sunday morning in March of 1880, Keeper Frederick Osborne and his assistant had an altercation on the lighthouse grounds, wherein the assistant shot Osborne dead. The assistant was later acquitted of murder charges, which may have prevented a peaceful rest for the departed Osborne, whose service was cut short. During Carl Svendsen's service as keeper, which lasted from 1907 to 1935, he and his wife repeatedly heard mysterious footfalls, which would send their dog Jink into a frenzy. To this day, people claim to hear inexplicable footsteps in the tower.

A speaking tube was installed in 1876 to connect the watchroom atop the tower with the dwelling so the relief keeper could be summoned. Keeper Isaac Peckham was lying down in the watchroom on the evening of August 31, 1886 when at 9:30 p.m. the Charleston earthquake shook the station. Keeper Peckhman reported that the accompanying noise "was like that made by a horse running over a hard road" and that one of the red flash panels broke. In May 1887, mother nature took another swipe at the station when lightning struck the dwelling. This prompted the addition of two new lightning conductors, with improved ground connections, to the dwelling.

The erection of a light to range with St. Simons Lighthouse and guide mariners safely into the harbor was proposed as early as 1837, but Congress didn't provide funds for it until 1893. The selected site for the beacon had to be obtained through condemnation proceedings, which delayed the establishment of the range light until May 1895. A triangular, skeletal tower, made of iron, was used to display a locomotive light at a focal plane of thirty-seven feet. This structure was destroyed by a hurricane on September 29, 1896 but was replaced the following month.

In 1890, a brick oil house was constructed on the lighthouse grounds to store the volatile kerosene, which replaced the increasingly expensive whale oil as the lamp fuel. The nine-by-eleven building could hold 450 five-gallon oil cans. Kerosene was in turn replaced by electricity in 1934, and the station was automated sixteen years later in 1950. Shortly after automation, the passageway connecting the tower to the dwelling was removed.

The keepers' dwelling was vacant for several years until it was leased to Glynn County in 1972 for use as a museum and visitors' center. After three years of restorative work overseen by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, the museum opened to the public. The tower was opened in 1984 to climbers willing to brave the 129-step spiral staircase. Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, ownership of St. Simons Lighthouse was officially transferred to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society on May 26, 2004.

Head Keepers: James Gould (1811 – 1837), Lachlan McIntosh (1837 – 1852), Alexander D. McIntosh (1852 – 1855), John F. Carmon (1855 – 1861), Bradford B. Brunt (1872 – 1874), Frederick Osborne (1874 – 1880), George W. Ashbell (1880 – 1883), Isaac L. Peckham (1883 – 1892), Joseph Champagne (1892 – 1907), Carl O. Svendsen (1907 – 1935), Arthur F. Hodge (1936 – 1945), David O’Hagan (1945 - 1953).

There were several historical markers around the lighthouse grounds which helped to tell the story of this beautiful structure:  

There were several markers around the lighthouse grounds....All help tell the futher story of this beautiful light:  

In 1804, John Couper of

Cannon's Point Plantation sold 4

acres of land, known as Couper's

Point, to the U.S. Government

for the sum of $1.00. This is

the site where the first St.

Simons Lighthouse, built by

James Gould, was located.

The present lighthouse was commissioned by the U.S. Government in 1867 to be built adjacent to the site of the 1810 tower. The 104' tower and keeper's dwelling were designed by the noted architect Charles Clusky. Clusky and several of his crew members died of malaria during construction. The light and dwelling were completed in 1872.

The Lighthouse and Keeper's Dwelling Today
The lighthouse tower is of brick construction. Cylindrical in shape, it has a 129-step cast-iron spiral staircase. The foundation is 8' below ground, 30' in diameter, and 3' thick. In 1890, the fireproof oil house was constructed. The oil house was designed to hold 450 5-gallon containers of kerosene to light the lamp in the lantern room. Later, large oil drums were installed in the oil house to contain the fuel.

The Keepers Life
Several lighthouse keepers, such as C.O. Svendsen ( to your left), and their assistants did duty at this station. Often, the keeper's wife served as his assistant keeper. The lighthouse was completely automated in 1953.  The early lives' of the keepers were lonely and monotonous. The Keeper's main task was to keep the light burning from sunset to sunrise. In addition, he was responsible for routine maintenance of the lens, buildings such as barns, boat houses, residence, and grounds.
The pay was $400 to $600 per year in the 19th Century. The highly prized position required the Keeper to be able to read and write, and sons often followed fathers and grandfathers footsteps into the United States Lighthouse Service

Surely the most important aspect of the lighthouse to the mariner is the light that emanates from the tower. The tall, white beacon also serves as a day-mark. The light, a 1,000 watt electric bulb, is reflected by a fixed 3rd Order Fresnel Lens manufactured by L. Sautier of Paris. Four flash panels, mounted around a fixed lens, revolve around the bulb flashing one beam per minute. The beam projects out 23 miles, limited by the curvature of the earth.
Today, our lighthouse is under the jurisdiction and care of the United States Coast Guard, Aids to Navigation, Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The preservation of the historic structure on this site is the responsibility of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society.

In 1804, Scottish-born plantation owner John Couper sold four acres of land for $1 to the new United States government to build the first St. Simons Light Station.James Gould was hired to design and build the lighthouse and keeper's dwelling in 1807. It was constructed of tabby - a mixture of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water. It was first lit in 1811.
The first lighthouse was 75' tall, octagonal, 25' at the base and tapered to 10' at the top. The 10' iron lantern room had oil lamps suspended by chains as the illuminant. James Gould was also appointed head lighthouse keeper from 1811-1837.
In the summer of 1861, 1500 Confederate troops were stationed on this site at Fort Brown. In 1862, Confederate troops destroyed the first lighthouse before evacuating the island so that Federal Forces could not use it as a navigational aid. The occupying troops were the African American Union soldiers known as the 1st South Carolina Volunteers.
The Plantation Era 
The Plantation Era began in the late 1700's and thrived on the growing of long staple cotton, known as "sea island cotton" and other crops such as indigo and rice. Cotton grew bigger and more plentifully here on the Georgia sea islands, and soon plantations were located from one

tip of St. Simons to the other. Although slavery was outlawed in early Colonial days, it became legal by 1757 in Georgia.
There is a strong connection between the Coastal sea islands and the Windward Coast of West Africa due to the slave trade that played such an important role in the success of area plantations. Slaves from West Africa were highly prized for their ability to cultivate rice, and then cotton. The War Between the States brought on the virtual demise of this era. The loss of slave labor made cotton growing and harvesting unproductive and not profitable. What remains is a cultural linkage between the "Gullah/Geechee" descendants of slaves of the sea islands and the countries of their ancestors.
A few tabby ruins remain of this era at Hampton Point, Cannon's Point and Retreat Plantation. Most of the old plantation lands have been covered by growth or converted to residential or commercial properties.

Revisit to Cockspur Island Light House Fort Pulaski National Monument Georgia

Got to this light house today for a revisit-   Got the stamp and a couple of markers as well.  

 Inscription for this marker:

The Cockspur Island Lighthouse, located in front of you was built in 1856. Six years later it was a silent witness to the Battle of Fort Pulaski. On April 10-11, 1862, the lighthouse was located midway between Union forces here on Tybee Island and Confederate forces inside Fort Pulaski. During the long-range bombardment, more than 5,000 shells passed over the light. The Cockspur Light survived the battle, and remains today as only one of five lighthouses in Georgia.

The 46-foot-tall beacon marks the South Channel of the Savannah River. The light is surrounded by water at high tide, and can only be reached by boat. To get a closer look, the Light Overlook Trail is available near Fort Pulaski.

Imagine standing here during the battle. The view has changed since then. In 1862, there were no trees hiding the fort. Look to the left of the lighthouse . Can you pick out the fort's flagpole? The sighting tube at left should help. The distance is about 1,600 yards. At the time of the battle, the Union Navy was blockading the entrance to the Savannah River in the distance to your right

At Fort Pulaski, there is this marker:

Designed and built in 1848 by renowned architect, John Norris to mark the entrance to the South Channel of the Savannah River, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse was destroyed by a hurricane in 1854. A larger replacement was built on the same foundation in 1855. During the American Civil War, the light was temporarily extinguished. The lighthouse survived the 30 hour Union bombardment of Confederate-held Fort Pulaski in 1862 and hurricanes in 1881 and 1893. By the late 1800s, shipping had moved to the North Channel of the Savannah River. The lighthouse was no longer needed and was deactivated in 1909. In 1958, the U.S. Coast Guard transferred control of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse to the National Park Service.

There is also a part of a crown next to the visitors center, with this marker:

Tybee Island Lighthouse, Georgia

Got to two lighthouses today, Tybee Island Lighthouse at Tybee Island, Georgia, and also Cockspur Island light which is part of Fort Pulaski National Monument.  


First Tybee-  Had visited there once before, but didn't have any stamp nor pin-  got the stamp,and a pin, and a couple of postcards for my nephews.  

Cockspur Island Light, Fort Fredericka NM Georgia

Got here on a summer trip with Cooper-  

The first Tybee Island Lighthouse was built in 1736 to mark the entrance to the Savannah River, but mariners still had to travel seventeen miles upstream to reach the port of Savannah. Several islands, including Cockspur, Long, and Elba, lie between the river's mouth and the port, bisecting the river into two main channels: the north channel, and the south channel.
Congress appropriated $3,000 on March 3, 1832 for an unlit beacon on the "White Oyster Beds" near the mouth of the Savannah River, and then sixteen years later, provided another $2,000 for "placing a lantern, lamps, and reflectors upon the beacon already erected" and for a small house for the keeper. Noted New York architect John Norris, who designed the U.S. Customs House and Hugh-Mercer house in Savannah, was hired to "repair, alter, and put lanterns and lights on Cockspur Island...and to erect a suitable keeper's house." As a result of this work, two lights, known as Oyster Beds Beacon and Cockspur Island Beacon, were established off Cockspur Island in 1849 to mark the entrance to the south channel of the Savannah River. Each of these beacons displayed a light at a focal plane of twenty-five feet using three lamps and fourteen-inch reflectors. Cockspur Island Lighthouse displayed a fixed white light, and Oyster Beds Lighthouse a fixed red light.

Dwelling atop Fort Pulaksi Photograph courtesy National Park Service

The first keeper of these two lights was the appropriately named John Lightburn, who resided on Cockspur Island, near Fort Pulaski, and would make daily trips to the towers to service the lights. James Callan was serving as keeper in 1850, when an inspector noted that the lamps often burned longer than was necessary since it was dangerous to access the towers at high tide. After an 1854 hurricane destroyed the keeper's dwelling and Cockspur Island Lighthouse, the tower was rebuilt in 1856 and outfitted with a fifth-order Fresnel lens. This brick tower, which remains standing today, has a unique feature - its eastern side is shaped like the prow of a ship to better withstand the force of high seas.
Cornelius Maher, the third keeper of the lights, drowned in 1853 when his boat capsized in the river. Maher's wife, Mary, replaced her husband as keeper and remained at the lights for three more years.
When Union forces entered the area in 1861, they took control of Tybee Island and constructed batteries on the island's western shore. The confederates had retreated to Fort Pulaski, thinking that they would be safe within the fort's seven-foot-thick walls that were constructed using twenty-five million bricks. On April 11, 1862, Union soldiers opened fire on the fort using a new weapon, rifled Parrot guns. These powerful guns were reportedly able to drive their thirty-six-pound shot roughly a mile to the fort and then nearly two feet into the fort's walls. After more than 5,000 such shots had been fired, the fort was severely damaged, and the occupants decided it was wise to surrender before a shot penetrated their powder magazine. The battle lasted just thirty hours, and amazingly, Cockspur Island Lighthouse, which stood in the direct line of fire between Tybee Island and the fort, suffered no damage.
The lights at Oyster Bed and Cockspur Island resumed operation in 1866, after some "considerable rebuilding" was performed to re-establish lights that had been "destroyed by the rebels" during the Civil War. In 1876, the Lighthouse Board noted the following regarding the residence on Cockspur Island for the keepers of Oyster Beds and Cockspur Beacons: "The keeper's dwelling, a small one-story frame building, built on a wooden foundation, is more than twenty years old, and so decayed that further repairs are unadvisable. It is also so near the ground that during severe gales the water rises above the floor." The dilapidated dwelling was struck by lightning in April 1880, and then destroyed the following year by a hurricane that temporarily raised the water level twenty-three feet above normal.
Temporary accommodations were arranged for the keepers of the two lights at Fort Pulaski, and then in 1893, six casemates at the fort were fitted up with doors, partitions, windows, and closets to accommodate the head keeper and assistant. In 1902, Congress was petitioned for $4,000 for a keeper's dwelling to be erected atop the parapet at Fort Pulaski to replace the casemate accommodations which were "damp, unsanitary, and unsuited to residential purposes." In 1906, the War Department finally granted the keepers permission to occupy the former Ordnance Sergeant's residence, and in 1907, this dwelling atop the fort was enlarged to better accommodate the two keepers.

Cockspur Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

In August 1871, Keeper Patrick Egan set out to service Cockspur Lighthouse during a heavy storm with two of his sons, Michael and Thomas. En route to the lighthouse, the trio's boat capsized. Patrick and Michael managed to cling to the overturned boat, but Thomas drowned and his body was never recovered.
George Washington Martus was one of the keepers who served during the postbellum period, accepting an assignment to the station in 1881 at the age of eighteen. Martus served until 1884, when he transferred upstream to Elba Island Lighthouse. Martus' sister Florence lived with him on Elba Island, and for over forty-years, she greeted all the vessels entering and leaving the port of Savannah with the wave of a handkerchief by day or a lantern by night. She became somewhat of a legend and was known as the "Waving Girl."
It is not really known what started her tradition of waving at the passing ships, though several legends suggest a reason. The most popular story is that her sweetheart left on a ship from Savannah and promised to come back for her one day. She vowed to wave at every ship until his return - but he never came back. Her friendliness is memorialized by a statue located near the waterfront in Savannah. The statue was sculpted by Felix de Weldon, creator of "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima," and shows Florence waving a handkerchief with a lantern and her pet collie by her feet. A celebration was held at Fort Pulaski in 1938 to honor Florence on her seventieth birthday, and a historical sign telling her story has since been placed at Fort Pulaski near the visitors center. Florence passed away in 1943, and a Liberty ship, completed in Savannah that year, was christened with her name.
Carrying on Florence's tradition at Elba Island was not an easy assignment. Billie Burn's husband Lance was assigned relief duty on Elba Island for one month in 1939. Billie would wave a white towel by day, and a lantern by night, but after a few nights of getting up to greet each ship, she grew tired and just left the lantern in the window. To acknowledge the lantern's greeting, the ships would sound three blasts of their horns, which Billie says about blew them out of bed. After thirty miserable days, Billie was eager to wave goodbye to Elba Island.
In 1909, the deep draft ships calling at Savannah started to use the north channel, and Cockspur Lighthouse was deactivated. The Coast Guard abandoned the lighthouse as a daymark in 1949, but fortunately the Park Service assumed control of the light in 1958 by presidential proclamation. The tower was repaired in a two-stage restoration effort that lasted from 1995 to 2000. A new lantern room was put in place atop the tower, brickwork was repaired and repointed, and the lighthouse received two coats of whitewash during the project. Cockspur Island Lighthouse, which was relit on March 18, 2007 using a solar-powered beacon, is now part of Fort Pulaski National Monument.

In 2007, it was discovered that shipworms had bored into the lighthouse's wooden support timbers exposed due to erosion. Now, shipworms, wave action, and tidal erosion combine to threaten the tower's stability. Recognizing the tenuous state of the tower, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation put Cockspur Lighthouse on its 2008 list of ten 'Places in Peril.' The Park Service has requested $1.4 million for a thorough restoration, but the money will not likely be provided for several years.

Saint Simons Lighthouse, St Simons Island, Georgia

Got here on a trip to the Island in early 2012 I believe.  

The beautiful two-story, brick keepers' dwelling and the white, 104-foot tower on St. Simons Island today seem like the idyllic light station, but such was not always the case. The station was considered isolated before being linked to the mainland, and one of the head keepers was murdered on the lighthouse grounds. In addition, stagnant ponds on the island provided the perfect breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, which led to the death of two men overseeing construction of the lighthouse.

Original Saint Simons Lighthouse Photograph courtesy wikipedia

Congress appropriated $7,000 on March 16, 1804 for a lighthouse on Saint Simons Island, and John Couper, owner of a plantation on the southern end of the island, sold four acres of his land to the government later that year for a token sum of one dollar. Couper was anxious that a lighthouse be built on the island to aid commerce in the Brunswick area.
The original appropriation reverted to the treasury in 1806, but Congress provided the much larger sum of $19,000 on March 3, 1807 for the project. In April of 1807, Couper's plan of getting a lighthouse on his property seemed to have worked as a notice appeared in the Savannah Advertiser soliciting a builder with sufficient skills to erect a lighthouse on the southern end of St. Simons Island. The plans called for a lighthouse constructed of brick in the form of an octagon, supported by a stone foundation and secured by a substantial panel door with iron hinges.
James Gould, newly arrived from New England, answered the ad and suggested that the tower be constructed of tabby, a local building material made from a mixture of lime, water, sand and oyster shells, and that some other minor alterations to the design be made. Gould's suggestions were accepted, and he was awarded the contract.
Gould used the ruins of Fort Frederica, which was built on the island in 1736, as a source for the tabby, and completed the seventy-five-foot tower in late 1810 at a cost of $13,775. Oil lamps suspended on chains served as the original light source.
With St. Simons Lighthouse finished, Gould was now out of work, but the following excerpt from a letter exchanged between two of his sisters reveals his time at the lighthouse was not yet done.

James has been officially appointed Keeper of the Light by President Madison, at a salary of $400 a year. The appointment came 4 May and he was, in spite of the small pay, plainly pleased to be trusted with the keeping of his beloved lighthouse. He appears also proud of the tower, so far, but what he insists is my discontent, I feel is somehow his own. I simply try to make him laugh and attempt to understand what it is he really wants to do with his life once the lighthouse is completed and he has been its keeper long enough to be satisfied that the lantern and all else is in order.

Apparently Gould was not too discontented with his life at the lighthouse as he served as keeper for twenty-seven years. A residence was evidently not built with the lighthouse as James Gould was paid $1,700 in 1830 to build a keeper's dwelling. In 1838, it was noted that the tower's eight-inch reflectors were too small. This problem was corrected in 1847 when nine lamps with fourteen-inch reflectors were installed in the lantern room. In 1856, the lighthouse was outfitted with a third-order Fresnel lens.
When Confederate troops abandoned the island in 1862, they dynamited the tower and keeper's cottage, so they would not benefit Union forces.
Following the Civil War, noted Georgia architect Charles B. Cluskey drew up plans for a new lighthouse and dwelling on the island for which Congress had appropriated $45,000 on March 2, 1867. In the fall of 1869, a contract for the project was awarded to the lowest bidder with a completion date around the middle of the following year. Difficulties in procuring materials and landing them at the site resulted in the completion date being pushed back to November 1, 1870, but even this date would prove too ambitious. During the summer months, there was a great deal of sickness at the site, and the contractor fell ill and died. One of the contractor's bondsmen stepped in to complete the work, but he also passed away at the lighthouse.
The surviving bondsman stepped in in November 1871, when the lighthouse stood at fifty-one feet, and over the next several months managed to complete the impressive Victorian duplex and 104-foot tower. The light from a third-order, L. Sautter Fresnel lens was first shown on September 1, 1872. The lens is a fixed lens, meaning it does not contain any flash panels and thus produces a steady light, however, there are four flash panels that revolve around the outside of the lens producing a bright flash once per minute. Originally, the panels produced alternating red and white flashes, with intervals of one minute.

Saint Simons Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The keepers at the new lighthouse repeatedly complained about the unhealthy living conditions on the island. The Lighthouse Board finally took action in 1875 and drained the ponds near the lighthouse. Seeds of the Eucalyptus globulus tree were also planted at the station, as the trees were believed to neutralize the noxious gases that caused malaria. Only later was it learned that the trees helped prevent malaria by consuming large quantities of water, thus helping to drain the swampy areas where mosquitoes bred.
On a Sunday morning in March of 1880, Keeper Frederick Osborne and his assistant had an altercation on the lighthouse grounds, wherein the assistant shot Osborne dead. The assistant was later acquitted of murder charges, which may have prevented a peaceful rest for the departed Osborne, whose service was cut short. During Carl Svendsen's service as keeper, which lasted from 1907 to 1935, he and his wife repeatedly heard mysterious footfalls, which would send their dog Jink into a frenzy. To this day, people claim to hear inexplicable footsteps in the tower.
A speaking tube was installed in 1876 to connect the watchroom atop the tower with the dwelling so the relief keeper could be summoned. Keeper Isaac Peckham was lying down in the watchroom on the evening of August 31, 1886 when at 9:30 p.m. the Charleston earthquake shook the station. Keeper Peckhman reported that the accompanying noise "was like that made by a horse running over a hard road" and that one of the red flash panels broke. In May 1887, mother nature took another swipe at the station when lightning struck the dwelling. This prompted the addition of two new lightning conductors, with improved ground connections, to the dwelling.
The erection of a light to range with St. Simons Lighthouse and guide mariners safely into the harbor was proposed as early as 1837, but Congress didn't provide funds for it until 1893. The selected site for the beacon had to be obtained through condemnation proceedings, which delayed the establishment of the range light until May 1895. A triangular, skeletal tower, made of iron, was used to display a locomotive light at a focal plane of thirty-seven feet. This structure was destroyed by a hurricane on September 29, 1896 but was replaced the following month.
In 1890, a brick oil house was constructed on the lighthouse grounds to store the volatile kerosene, which replaced the increasingly expensive whale oil as the lamp fuel. The nine-by-eleven building could hold 450 five-gallon oil cans. Kerosene was in turn replaced by electricity in 1934, and the station was automated sixteen years later in 1950. Shortly after automation, the passageway connecting the tower to the dwelling was removed.
The keepers' dwelling was vacant for several years until it was leased to Glynn County in 1972 for use as a museum and visitors' center. After three years of restorative work overseen by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, the museum opened to the public. The tower was opened in 1984 to climbers willing to brave the 129-step spiral staircase. Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, ownership of St. Simons Lighthouse was officially transferred to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society on May 26, 2004.