One of only five surviving light towers in Georgia, the restored lighthouse
on St Simons Island, with its original 3rd order Fresnel lens shining 18
miles out to sea, remains a navigational aid for traffic entering St. Simons
Sound. Unlike many other operational lighthouses, visitors are welcome to
climb the 129 steps leading to the top of the St. Simons Island Lighthouse.
Althought no keeper awaits you since the lighthouse is now fully automated,
the vast panorama of the Golden Isles does.
The historic site of the St. Simons Lightstation dates back to Fort St.
Simons, a colonial fort which was built under General James Oglethorpe's
command to protect the southern tip of the island. In the early 1800s, John
Couper acquired the land and named it Couper's Point. Couper sold the land
for the sum of $1 to the government in 1804 as the location of the St.
Simons Island Lighthouse. The original lighthouse was blown up by
Confederate forces in 1862 to prevent its use by Federal troops.
The lighthouse you see today was constructed in
1872. This historic site consists of four historic structures: the
lighthouse itself, the keeper's dwelling, an 1890 oil house and a Victorian
Gazebo. The keeper's cottage is now the St. Simons Lighthouse Museum, and
contains exhibits on the history of the lighthouse and the way of life of a
turn-of-the-century lighthouse keeper and his family. The Museum store
features coastal Georgia publications and unique lighthouse-related items.
The lighthouse, still operational, remains under the jurisdiction of the
United States Coast Guard.
Courtesy of the Coastal
Georgia Historical Society