Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Cumberland Island received its lighthouse first. Six acres at the southern tip of the island were ceded to the U.S. Government in 1802 by the state of Georgia for the construction of a lighthouse. However, it was eighteen years before the lighthouse, built by Winslow Lewis, became a reality. After eighteen years of service, the lighthouse was dismantled brick by brick and reassembled on the northern end of Florida's Amelia Island, which lies just across the mouth of the St. Mary's River from the original lighthouse site. Apparently the lighthouse was able to better mark the entrance to the river from the Florida side.

Before the relocation of the lighthouse, the decision was made to build a lighthouse on the northern end of Little Cumberland Island, where it could mark the entrance to St. Andrew Sound and the Satilla River. In fact, the lighthouse was known as the St. Andrew Lighthouse prior to the Civil War. In 1838, as one Cumberland lighthouse was shrinking at the southern end of the islands another lighthouse was rising at the northern end of the islands, just eighteen miles away.

Joseph Hastings of Boston was contracted to build Little Cumberland's sixty-foot, brick tower and keeper's dwelling. The lantern room was filled with fourteen lamps generating a fixed light, which distinguished it from the older tower to the south that had a revolving light. The light commenced operation on June 26 of 1838.

The tower's first keeper was David Thompson who held the position for eleven years earning $400 annually. In 1857, the lighthouse received a third-order Fresnel lens manufactured by the Parisian firm of Henri LePaute. The tower survived the Civil War, though it was dark during much of the conflict. Normal operations recommenced on September 1, 1867.

In the 1870s, a brick wall was built around the lighthouse to protect it from the encroaching sea. The lighthouse was in service until 1915 when it was deactivated. The Little Cumberland Island Association purchased the island in 1961, and decided that 90 percent of the island would be left as wilderness. The remaining ten percent of the island was divided into 100, two-acre lots where development is allowed, but only 36 homes have been built.

The keeper's dwelling was destroyed in 1968, but the Little Cumberland Island Association has done much work to preserve the tower. As the island is private, access to the Little Cumberland Lighthouse is not permitted. Today, a large dune protects the lighthouse from the sea, but also prevents good views of the light from the nearest public viewing area - the water.

References

1. "The Lighthouses of Georgia," Buddy Sullivan, The Keeper's Log, Spring 1988.
2. Georgia's Lighthouses and Historic Coastal Sites, Kevin McCarthy, 1998.
3. Southeastern Lighthouses, Ray Jones, 1998.