Lighthouse Hunting - Georgetown

Georgetown, SC 

I've been checking the lighthouses in South Carolina off of my list lately. The Georgetown lighthouse is visible from the water so it required a little planning and a boat ride to view it. There are two companies offering lighthouse and shelling trip from G-Town and for more convenient timing we took Cap'n Rod's tour which left at noon. The trips are popular and fill up so reservations are the best plan. There is a lot of history around Georgetown and I'd like to return for the plantation tour. We saw many beautiful plantation buildings through the woods.

We didn't get off at the lighthouse since it is still in operation but had a good view as we sailed by. We had close to an hour and a half on North Island to explore the boneyard beach and shell. Visitors were allowed to take shells and to carry pieces of driftwood of a size that one person could carry.

Begun in 1799 and lighted in 1801, the Georgetown Lighthouse is the oldest active lighthouse in South Carolina and one of the oldest in existence on the south Atlantic coast. However, a tablet above the entrance notes 1811 as the date of erection, differing from the nomination form’s conclusion. During the Civil War, the lighthouse was used by the Confederates as an observation post until it was captured by Union forces in May 1862. The lighthouse tower, in the shape of a truncated cone, is 87 feet tall. The stairs and center supporting post were cut from solid stone, and the outer walls are of brick. The light was rebuilt in 1812 and 1867. The lighthouse complex is in a cleared area of scrub-covered sand dunes and includes several one-story buildings that form the Coast Guard station, a dock on Winyah Bay, and a radio tower. Listed in the National Register December 30, 1974.