I'm a lighthouse junky

"TNooga wrote:

To help AZfinfan get to take a trip to Florida, here are a few more lighthouses in Florida:

Ponce Inlet:

Its the second tallest lighthouse in the US.

St. Augustine:

St. Johns River:

That one is on Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville. There is a second lighthouse on the base, but I didnt get to go. You can however go on the base to see them.

Amelia Island, located at Fernandina Beach.

That photo sucks. Thats another one I'm going to have to go back to get better shots of.

And, the only shot of Cape Canaveral that I have.

Thats all I have from Florida so far.

Beautiful shots man, thanks so much for posting. :knucks:

Nice Nooga.. don't know why, but your post is all redx to me, but I can see them in the quote.. odd.

^^

Strange...I can see them just fine. Let me know if you can't see these...

South Carolina:

Cape Romain

Georgetown

Both of these are only accessible by boat.

Hilton Head Rear Range

Not alot of people know that there are 2 lighthouses on Hilton Head Island. They only know of Harbour Town, but the rear range light is alot more spectacular than that one. It is over 150 years old.

Harbour Town

Haig Point

South Carolina continued...Not sure how many photos I can put on one post

Hunting Island

Morris Island

You can see Sullivan's Island lighthouse in the background of this one.

Sullivans Island

Governor's Lighthouse

I have been to all of the lighthouses in South Carolina.

Ten I think.. WOW, beautiful photos bro, thanks for sharing. I'll bet ya'll had fun road trippin' them for perusal. The Cape Romain, is that an old light tower to the right?

There is a 250 page book about my family called Pioneer Life in Southeast Florida that came from Uncle Charlies 690 page memoir.

In the book, it picks up when they arrived at Jupiter Light 1872, leaving out the content of some 80 pages that details the Great Chicago fire, and the families trip to Florida in a 28 foot sloop down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers into the Gulf. I decided to follow that trip and document it with some "in era" pictures. I had a blast hunting for old pictures and actually found the ones I needed, that included three old lighthouses. Man did I learn a LOT about Florida west coast lights and the hurricanes that wrecked them over and over during this search. Here is the link to a little site that Malcolm set me up with.. that needs attention.. http://floridahistoryhunter.com/my-history-presentations/captain-hannibal-dillingham-pierce/the-cruise-of-the-fairy-belle-gulf-of-mexico/

Here are some unused pics;

Seahorse Key.. which guarded Cedar Key

An undated unlabelled lithograph of the St. Johns so I don't know which one it may be.. but someday, I'll run across it again and get more info.

George Meade, not yet a General, who you Secession war buffs will know, designed the Jupiter and Cape Florida lighthouses. Here is a copy of some plans for Cape Florida;

When they rebuilt it in 1855-56, adding 30 feet to it height, they discovered that that contractor had cheated and the walls were hollow, not solid as required by plan.

^^

Added 30 feet to it? It barely looks 50 feet. lol Is that why the first tower fell so easily?

And yes that is an older tower in the Cape Romain photo. They decided that the tower wasn't tall enough, so they built the taller one. That area of the SC coast is very tricky to navigate due to shifting sand bars and such, kind of like Cape Fear. But, the larger tower is leaning, and cracking. It was built on SC Lowcountry swamplands, and it isn't stable. Its a shame. I wish someone would start a foundation to restore it. It is a beauty.

And, yes the road trips are half the fun of going. Hopefully in January, we will be going to NC's outer banks, as well as a couple Virginia lighthouses.

"TNooga wrote:

^^

Added 30 feet to it? It barely looks 50 feet. lol Is that why the first tower fell so easily?

And yes that is an older tower in the Cape Romain photo. They decided that the tower wasn't tall enough, so they built the taller one. That area of the SC coast is very tricky to navigate due to shifting sand bars and such, kind of like Cape Fear. But, the larger tower is leaning, and cracking. It was built on SC Lowcountry swamplands, and it isn't stable. Its a shame. I wish someone would start a foundation to restore it. It is a beauty.

And, yes the road trips are half the fun of going. Hopefully in January, we will be going to NC's outer banks, as well as a couple Virginia lighthouses.

Excellent, I am jealous in a good way. January is pretty dang cold tho.. for a Florida boy anyway :sad:

Cape Florida 1923.. I found an earlier, 1883 image, but it would not copy;

as "I" remember it from the early 1960's before it was refurbished. We would go to Crandon Park and walk the beach to the light and have lunch. 5 miles +- overall walk.

today;

notice it's proximity to the water, it was originally 100 feet from the shoreline. Hurricane Andrew pushed about 10 feet of storm surge here and the light stood tall throught all. After the hurricane;

Cape Florida was 65 feet..now 95. It has a hell of a history. The original contract winner Samuel Linclon, left Boston 1824 loaded with supplies and crew and was never heard from again.. all lost at sea. It was the new contractor, Noah Humpries, that cheated on the construction by building hollow walls. It was in service by the end of 1825. In the Indian attack 1836, it did not fall, but was gutted by fire and explosion. The light was refurbished with metal stairs and new light and lens apparatus (fourth order)at the original 65' height in 1847.. It was then they discovered the hollow walls. Indians had prevented work for ten years.

1854, Lieutenant George Mead made a coastal inspection to discover what improvments might be made to protect shipping better and in 1855, they added the 30 feet. Incidentally, 1855 was the year they started Jupiter light too, another of Meades designs. The age of steam and larger sailboats with deeper draft were coming into service and they needed to be even further from the reefs, that is why they added the 30 feet. Even with this greater reach, the light was decommisioned in 1878 for in favor of a new light with state of the art screwpiles at Fowey rocks at Mollassas reef named so for the wreck of HMS Fowey 1748... thus Fowey Light.

The second Seminole war got started with the massacre of Colonel Dade, his command, and the killing of Indian Agent Thompson Dec. 28, 1835. Then, there was an attack on William Cooley's family at New River was some three weeks later.. read Ft Lauderdale area. Cooley was friendly with the Indians and even named his children after some Chiefs. He was however, Justice of the Peace and when some white settlers killed an Indian Chief, he took them to Key West for trial. There, they were acquitted and the Indians blamed Cooley. When they attacked, William was salvaging a wrecked vessel and they missed him.. but not his wife, 3 children and tutor, some slaves were captured and one escaped. It is from him that we know the details of this attack. The killing was done Indians that had supped at his table. All the remaining settlers escaped to Cape Florida light, and then to Indian Key.

Cooley then took charge of the Cape Florida light and the settlers for a time until a government bean counter refused payment for armed guards.. Cooley left and John W. B. Thompson, along with the elderly Aaron Carter, who may have been a slave, temporarily assumed command of the light., Now, the Indians were probably going to attack the light anyway, but it is my belief they were still after Cooley. Here is a link to the story for those unfamiliar; http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1949/49_1_01.pdf
Mr Thompson later wrote a letter that I will quote from. As it is not under copyright, I will quote a chunk in the next post, the story is intense.

This story can be found here;
http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1949/49_1_01.pdf

John W.B. Thompson, date written is unknown to me. I broke it up into smaller paragraph chunks to ease reading.

"On the twenty-third of July, 1836, about 4 P.M., as I was going from the kitchen to the dwelling house, I discovered a large body of Indians within twenty yards of me, back of the kitchen. I ran for the Lighthouse, and called out to the old negro man that was with me to run, for the Indians were near. At that moment they discharged a volley of rifle balls, which cut my clothes and hat and perforated the door in many places.

We got in, and as I was turning the key the savages had hold of the door.. I stationed the negro at the door, with orders to let me know if they attempted to break in. I then took my three muskets, which were loaded with ball and buckshot, and went to the second window. Seeing a large body of them opposite the dwelling house, I discharged my muskets in succession among them, which put them in some confusion; they then, for the second time, began their horrid yells, and in a minute no sash of glass was left at the window, for they vented their rage at that spot.

I fired at them from some of the other windows, and from the top of the house; in fact, I fired whenever I could get an Indian for a mark. I kept them from the house until dark. They then poured in a heavy fire at all the windows and lantern; that was the time they set fire to the door and window even with the ground. The window was boarded up with plank and filled with stone inside; but the flames spread fast, being fed with yellow pine wood. Their balls had perforated the tin tanks of oil, consisting of two hundred and twenty-five gallons. My bedding, clothing, and in fact everything I had was soaked in oil. I stopped at the door until driven away by the flames.

"I then took a keg of gunpowder, my balls and one musket to the top of the house, then went below and began to cut away the stairs about halfway up from the bottom. I had difficulty in getting the old negro up the space I had already cut; but the flames now drove me from my labor, and I retreated to the top of the house. I covered over the scuttle that leads to the lantern, which kept the fire from me for sometime. At last the awful moment arrived; the cracking flames burst around me.

"The savages at the same time began their hellish yells. My poor negro looked at me with tears in his eyes, but he could not speak. We went out of the lantern and down on the edge of the platform, two feet wide. The lantern was now full of flame, the lamps and glasses bursting and flying in all directions, my clothes on fire, and to move from the place where I was would be instant death from their rifles. My flesh was roasting, and to put an end to my horrible suffering I got up and threw the keg of gunpowder down the scuttle-instantly it exploded and shook the tower from top to bottom. It had not the desired effect of blowing me into eternity, but it threw down the stairs and all the wooden work near the top of the house; it damped the fire for a moment, but it soon blazed as fierce as ever.

The negro man said he was wounded, which was the last word he spoke. By this time I had received some wounds myself; and finding no chance for my
life, for I was roasting alive, I took the determination to jump off. I got up, went inside the iron railing, recommending my soul to God, and was on the point of going ahead foremost on the rock below when something dictated to me to return and lie down again. I did so, and in two minutes the fire fell to the bottom of the house. It is a remarkable circumstance that not one ball struck me when I stood up outside the railing although they were flying all around me like hailstones. I found the old negro man dead, being shot in several places, and literally roasted. A few minutes after the fire fell a stiff breeze sprung up from the southward, which was a great blessing to me. I had to lie where I was, for I could not walk, having received six rifle balls, three in each foot.

"The Indians, thinking me dead, left the lighthouse and set fire to the dwelling place, kitchen and other outhouses, and began to carry off their plunder to the beach. They took all the empty barrels, the drawers of the bureaus, and in fact everything that would act as a vessel to hold anything. My provisions were in the lighthouse, except a barrel of flour, which they took off. The next morning they hauled out of the lighthouse, by means of a pole, the tin that composed the oil tanks, no doubt to make grates to manufacture the coonty root into what we call arrow root. After loading my little sloop, about 10 or 12 went into her; the rest took to the beach to meet at the other end of the island.

This happened, as I judge, about 2:00 a.m. My eyes, being much affected, prevented me from knowing their actual force, but I judge there were from 40 to 50, perhaps more. I was now almost as bad off as before; a burning fever on me, my feet shot to pieces, no clothes to cover me, nothing to eat or drink, a hot sun overhead, a dead man by my side, no friend near or any to expect, and placed between 70 and 80 feet from the earth and no chance of getting down.

My situation was truly horrible. About 12 o'clock I thought I could perceive a vessel not far off. I took a piece of the old negro's trousers that had escaped the flames by being wet with blood and made a signal. Some time in the afternoon I saw two boats with my sloop in tow coming to the landing. I had no doubt but they were Indians, having seen my signal; but it proved to be the boats of the United States schooner Motto, Captain Armstrong, with a detachment of seamen and marines under the command of Lieutenant Lloyd, of the sloop of war Concord. They had retaken my sloop, after the Indians had stripped her of her sails and rigging, and everything of consequence belonging to her.

"They informed me they heard my explosion 12 miles off, and ran down to my assistance, but did not expect to find me alive. These gentlemen did all in their power to relieve me, but, night coming on, they returned on board the Motto, after assuring me of their assistance in the morning. Next morning, Monday, July 5, [25] three boats landed, among them Captain Cole, of the schooner Pee Dee, from New York. They made a kite during the night to get a line to me, but without effect, they then fired twine from their muskets, made fast to a ramrod, which I received, and hauled up a tail block and made fast round an iron stanchion, rove the twine through the block, and they below, by that means, rove a two-inch rope and hoisted up two men, who soon landed me on terra firma.

I must state here that the Indians had made a ladder by lashing pieces of wood across the lightning rod, near 40 feet from the ground, as if to have my scalp, nolens volens. This happened on the fourth. After I got on board the Motto every man from the captain to the cook tried to alleviate my sufferings. On the seventh I was received in the military hospital, through the politeness of Lieutenant Alvord of the fourth Regiment of United States Infantry. He has done everything to make my situation as comfortable as possible. I must not omit here to return my thanks to the citizens of Key West, generally, for their sympathy and kind offers of anything I would wish that it was in their power to bestow.

Before I left Key West two balls were extracted, and one remains in my right leg, but since I am under the care of Dr. Ramsey, who has paid every attention to me, he will know best whether to extract it or not. These lines are written to let my friends know that I am still in the land of living, and am now in Charleston, S. C., where every attention is paid me. Although a cripple, I can eat my allowance and walk without the use of a cane."

"cnc66 wrote:

This story can be found here;
http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1949/49_1_01.pdf

John W.B. Thompson, date written is unknown to me. I broke it up into smaller paragraph chunks to ease reading.

"On the twenty-third of July, 1836, about 4 P.M., as I was going from the kitchen to the dwelling house, I discovered a large body of Indians within twenty yards of me, back of the kitchen. I ran for the Lighthouse, and called out to the old negro man that was with me to run, for the Indians were near. At that moment they discharged a volley of rifle balls, which cut my clothes and hat and perforated the door in many places.

We got in, and as I was turning the key the savages had hold of the door.. I stationed the negro at the door, with orders to let me know if they attempted to break in. I then took my three muskets, which were loaded with ball and buckshot, and went to the second window. Seeing a large body of them opposite the dwelling house, I discharged my muskets in succession among them, which put them in some confusion; they then, for the second time, began their horrid yells, and in a minute no sash of glass was left at the window, for they vented their rage at that spot.

I fired at them from some of the other windows, and from the top of the house; in fact, I fired whenever I could get an Indian for a mark. I kept them from the house until dark. They then poured in a heavy fire at all the windows and lantern; that was the time they set fire to the door and window even with the ground. The window was boarded up with plank and filled with stone inside; but the flames spread fast, being fed with yellow pine wood. Their balls had perforated the tin tanks of oil, consisting of two hundred and twenty-five gallons. My bedding, clothing, and in fact everything I had was soaked in oil. I stopped at the door until driven away by the flames.

"I then took a keg of gunpowder, my balls and one musket to the top of the house, then went below and began to cut away the stairs about halfway up from the bottom. I had difficulty in getting the old negro up the space I had already cut; but the flames now drove me from my labor, and I retreated to the top of the house. I covered over the scuttle that leads to the lantern, which kept the fire from me for sometime. At last the awful moment arrived; the cracking flames burst around me.

"The savages at the same time began their hellish yells. My poor negro looked at me with tears in his eyes, but he could not speak. We went out of the lantern and down on the edge of the platform, two feet wide. The lantern was now full of flame, the lamps and glasses bursting and flying in all directions, my clothes on fire, and to move from the place where I was would be instant death from their rifles. My flesh was roasting, and to put an end to my horrible suffering I got up and threw the keg of gunpowder down the scuttle-instantly it exploded and shook the tower from top to bottom. It had not the desired effect of blowing me into eternity, but it threw down the stairs and all the wooden work near the top of the house; it damped the fire for a moment, but it soon blazed as fierce as ever.

The negro man said he was wounded, which was the last word he spoke. By this time I had received some wounds myself; and finding no chance for my
life, for I was roasting alive, I took the determination to jump off. I got up, went inside the iron railing, recommending my soul to God, and was on the point of going ahead foremost on the rock below when something dictated to me to return and lie down again. I did so, and in two minutes the fire fell to the bottom of the house. It is a remarkable circumstance that not one ball struck me when I stood up outside the railing although they were flying all around me like hailstones. I found the old negro man dead, being shot in several places, and literally roasted. A few minutes after the fire fell a stiff breeze sprung up from the southward, which was a great blessing to me. I had to lie where I was, for I could not walk, having received six rifle balls, three in each foot.

"The Indians, thinking me dead, left the lighthouse and set fire to the dwelling place, kitchen and other outhouses, and began to carry off their plunder to the beach. They took all the empty barrels, the drawers of the bureaus, and in fact everything that would act as a vessel to hold anything. My provisions were in the lighthouse, except a barrel of flour, which they took off. The next morning they hauled out of the lighthouse, by means of a pole, the tin that composed the oil tanks, no doubt to make grates to manufacture the coonty root into what we call arrow root. After loading my little sloop, about 10 or 12 went into her; the rest took to the beach to meet at the other end of the island.

This happened, as I judge, about 2:00 a.m. My eyes, being much affected, prevented me from knowing their actual force, but I judge there were from 40 to 50, perhaps more. I was now almost as bad off as before; a burning fever on me, my feet shot to pieces, no clothes to cover me, nothing to eat or drink, a hot sun overhead, a dead man by my side, no friend near or any to expect, and placed between 70 and 80 feet from the earth and no chance of getting down.

My situation was truly horrible. About 12 o'clock I thought I could perceive a vessel not far off. I took a piece of the old negro's trousers that had escaped the flames by being wet with blood and made a signal. Some time in the afternoon I saw two boats with my sloop in tow coming to the landing. I had no doubt but they were Indians, having seen my signal; but it proved to be the boats of the United States schooner Motto, Captain Armstrong, with a detachment of seamen and marines under the command of Lieutenant Lloyd, of the sloop of war Concord. They had retaken my sloop, after the Indians had stripped her of her sails and rigging, and everything of consequence belonging to her.

"They informed me they heard my explosion 12 miles off, and ran down to my assistance, but did not expect to find me alive. These gentlemen did all in their power to relieve me, but, night coming on, they returned on board the Motto, after assuring me of their assistance in the morning. Next morning, Monday, July 5, [25] three boats landed, among them Captain Cole, of the schooner Pee Dee, from New York. They made a kite during the night to get a line to me, but without effect, they then fired twine from their muskets, made fast to a ramrod, which I received, and hauled up a tail block and made fast round an iron stanchion, rove the twine through the block, and they below, by that means, rove a two-inch rope and hoisted up two men, who soon landed me on terra firma.

I must state here that the Indians had made a ladder by lashing pieces of wood across the lightning rod, near 40 feet from the ground, as if to have my scalp, nolens volens. This happened on the fourth. After I got on board the Motto every man from the captain to the cook tried to alleviate my sufferings. On the seventh I was received in the military hospital, through the politeness of Lieutenant Alvord of the fourth Regiment of United States Infantry. He has done everything to make my situation as comfortable as possible. I must not omit here to return my thanks to the citizens of Key West, generally, for their sympathy and kind offers of anything I would wish that it was in their power to bestow.

Before I left Key West two balls were extracted, and one remains in my right leg, but since I am under the care of Dr. Ramsey, who has paid every attention to me, he will know best whether to extract it or not. These lines are written to let my friends know that I am still in the land of living, and am now in Charleston, S. C., where every attention is paid me. Although a cripple, I can eat my allowance and walk without the use of a cane."

Yeah, that's a cool story, I've read that before. It can be found in this book along with a few more stories that are very good as well.

"TNooga wrote:

South Carolina continued...Not sure how many photos I can put on one post

Hunting Island

Here's a view I took right back at you. :lol:

I have a yearly pass for Hunting Island. Its where I go to the beach. This is the only lighthouse is South Carolina that you're allowed up in from what I remember. It's not the original, that one was blown up by the confederacy (like so many others I'd imagine) to keep Union boats from navigating some nasty shoals offshore of there.

This one is made of steel plates, and can be disassembled and moved reather easily. Thought that was kinda cool.

^^^
I have that exact same photo. lol

It isn't the only SC light you can climb...You can climb Harbour Town. <ducks for cover from the book that Jason just threw at me. lol> That is a beautiful beach. Its far enough away from everything to keep the crowds down, unlike Hilton Head. Sullivans Island may soon be open to the public because it was just obtained by the National Parks Service from the Coast Guard. Hunting Island lighthouse used to be much closer to the ocean. It was moved at one point.

There are 2 other towers you can climb, but you are risking jail time. Georgetown and Cape Romain.

When I went to Georgetown, the boat captain said that you aren't allowed to go ashore there, but I begged, and gave him an extra $50 and he docked there. I could have climbed Georgetown, but I didn't want to be seen at the top of the lighthouse. I did go inside though. Its a shame that they won't restore the place. The lighthouse is in great shape, and there are several buildings that could be turned into cottages and such. If you do a google image search for the Georgetown light, you're likely to only turn up photos from the water. My photos were illegally obtained. lol

Cape Romain has guided 2 tours a year, but you can imagine how crowded those must be. Still, people have landed there on their own. Ckeck out this website. http://beachbum.homestead.com/Lighthouses/SouthCarolina/CapeRomain.html This guy has some awesome photos of the towers up close and from the top of the towers.
That lighthouse is also said to be haunted because the last lighthouse keeper there murdered his wife and buried here somewhere near the tower. The island is also inhabited by goats that are descendant of the goats that keeper brought there. There is a photo on that website of a skeleton of a goat inside the tower. Its pretty creepy. There is also a complete history of the 2 towers there. Very worth the read.

"TNooga wrote:

^^^
I have that exact same photo. lol

It isn't the only SC light you can climb...You can climb Harbour Town. <ducks for cover from the book that Jason just threw at me. lol

:lol: Sounds like you don't consider Harbor Town a real lighthouse either. :hi5:

"jason8er wrote:

:lol: Sounds like you don't consider Harbor Town a real lighthouse either. :hi5:

I consider it to be in the lighthouse category with the others because you can see its light 15 miles away, and $1 from each admission to climb it goes to funds to preserve the historical lighthouses. So while it wasn't built as a nautical aid, or comissioned by the government, I consider it to be 'real lighthouse tourist attraction.' lol Have you seen the Hilton Head Rear Range Lighthouse? Its in the Leamington section of Palmetto Dunes.

The Governor's lighthouse in Myrtle Beach, I consider real because it was actually comissioned by the government to be built to honor SC's governors. It came to be the same way most of the historical lights did.

Now, on to North Carolina...

Oak Island Lighthouse...

This one was built in 1957 to replace the Bald Head Island Lighthouse to mark the entrance to the Cape Fear River. It is 158 feet tall, with 67 feet of support underneath. It is all one peice as well. Solid concrete walls. Its tri color is also permanent. When it was being built, they mixed those colors into it so it would never have to be painted. It is the most powerful lighthouse in the world in terms of light and structure. It could easily withstand a category 5 hurricane. Its open to the public for tours as well.

Bald Head Island...

NC's oldest lighthouse, built in 1817, actully replaces a tower that was built in 1794. It was scrapped in 1813 due to beach erosion, and this one was built farther inland to replace it. Both were built to mark the entrance to the Cape Fear River. Its open for daily self guided tours. This one, I highly recommend going to.

So far, these are the only NC lights that I have.

And, here's the last of the lighthouse photos have.

Georgia

Cockspur Island:

You can see Tybee Island Lighthouse in the background of this one. This lighthouse has a heck of a story to tell, and I'll get into that later this evening.

Tybee Island:

Savannah Harbor Light:

Another one with a really cool story

St. Simons Island

There are 2 other Georgia lighthouses that I don't have...actually, 2.5.

"Sethdaddy8 wrote:

The Barnegat Lighthouse in NJ is a pretty big deal to the state. Focus of tons of memorabilia and merchandise, calendars, "state spot to visit", etc. my old man has a place one town over from there, less than a mile away. i've grown up having at all times, some form of t-shirt, snow globe, or picture with this lighthouse on it.

My parents are down the road on Brandt Beach.Nice Lighthouse and very historic in it's own right.

Now, its story time...

The Cockspur Island Lighthouse was the original marker of the Savannah River. The Tybee Island lighthouse replaced it. The Cockspur Island Lighthouse is less than 2 miles from Ft. Pulaski...

This is a photo I took of a painting of the fort. The second photo is mine of the front of the fort.

Here, you can see the fort in the background behind the lighthouse:

This is a photo of the lighthouse from the top of the fort:

Anyway, during the Civil War, the Confederates were in Ft. Pulaski, and the Union wanted to take it...Not so much the fort, but the Savannah River. The fort guarded the entrance of the river at the ocean.

The Union ships showed up, and were pretty much in the same place I was when I took that photo of the lighthouse from the water. A very fierce battle that lasted 2 days took place between the Confederates and the Union. Cannon fire back and forth non stop. This little lighthouse stood directly in the crossfire between the Confederates in the fort and the Union ships...And never suffered a scratch from a stray cannonball. Both sides knew that whoever won would control the entrance to the Savannah River would need the lighthouse. Here's a look at the serious damage that was done to the fort by the Union..Notice the difference of colors in the bricks on the left hand side. The fort was repaired by the Union shortly after they took the fort.

Here's a photo of the info plaques I shot that display the damage shortly after the battle.

The Savannah Harbor Light

My other photo is of it at night lit up. The Civil War wasn't the first time the Savannah River was battled for. During the Revolutionary War, Old Ft. Jackson was built (before Ft. Pulaski and about 10 miles in from the ocean.) to defend the city of Savannah. Ft. Jackson had done a good job of repelling the English. One night, it was EXTREMELY foggy, and the British sailed 20 ships down river and past Ft. Jackson unseen due to the fog. They sunk them halfway between Jackson and Savannah Harbor. They did it because the French reinforcements were expected within a month. They weren't able to take Savannah Harbor because they didn't have enough ground troops to secure the city once they took the harbor. So, they made it very treacherous to get into the harbor, hoping the French ships would be damaged while trying to come into the harbor. The ships were mostly submerged but people saw them do it. So, they built the Savannah Harbor Light to mark the spot where the ships were sunk. It simply looked like a regular insignificant harbor light, so the British were oblivious to what it was for. So, when the French arrived, they knew about the wrecks, and the light, so each ship was led into the harbor by a rowboat to navigate over the wrecks. Its still operational today.

Ft. Jackson

Here's a photo of the Talmadge Bridge from the top of Ft. Jackson. On the other side of it is the Savannah Harbor. And, there is a huge freighter under the bridge.

nice, thanks for the details!!

just ran across this over at Weather Underground;

Uploaded by: machead Friday July 17, 2009

Split Rock Lighthouse in Minnesota.

I just noticed that this thread is in graphics when I tried to find it.. I'm moving it to the "history" forum.

edit; I just discovered a "catagory" for lighthouses over there.. some interesting shots. BTW, the photo galleries at Dr. Masters joint are as fine as any I have ever perused. This is in addition to it being IMO, the finest weather site on the net.

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/imagegallery.html?category=lighthouses

Winter Ice

Uploaded by: corlib Saturday January 31, 2004 St Joseph, MI (Current Conditions)

"cnc66 wrote:

Wow, that's a great pic.

i was a lighthouse keeper on St Paul's Island in the Cabot Strait, between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland:

in the above photo I was located on the small island at the bottom of the picture. here was the station circa 1937:

Uploaded by: postpounder Friday July 24, 2009 Marinette, WI (Current Conditions)

same guy, another view;

Uploaded by: postpounder Thursday July 16, 2009 mainette, WI

2. postpounder 1:57 PM EDT on July 17, 2009
This was taken in Memominee, Mi. Looking out on the bay of Green Bay.

Soundwave, that is really cool. Do you have anymore photos? There are a couple lighthouse vacations you can take and be a lighthouse keeper at a working lighthouse. I'd like to do that some time.

Some time after the Falcons game, I may start taking day trips down to the Florida panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to shoot some lighthouses there.

In January, my wife and I will likely be going to the NC Outer Banks and a couple Virginia lighthouses.

I'm headed to northern Michigan next week (Traverse City, Mackinac Island, Upper Peninsula). I'll have some high res. pics for you guys if you want them. We can PM some emails when I get back.