Although the faux lighthouse at Harbour Town, on the southern end of Hilton Head Island, is more widely known, the Hilton Head Rear Range Light is the island’s one true lighthouse. As the lighthouse stands on ground that was once part of the Leamington Plantation, the tower is also known as the Leamington Lighthouse. Surrounded by tall pines and located in the middle of a golf course roughly a mile from the Atlantic, the lighthouse remains unseen by most visitors to the popular vacation and golf island.

The first light on the island was reportedly built by Union soldiers stationed there during the Civil War. After six years of service, the original tower was destroyed by a storm in 1869. Congress then authorized the expenditure of $40,000 for a pair of range lights on the island to guide vessels into Port Royal Sound. Due to a lengthy squabble over land rights, the lights were not finished until 1881.

Hilton Head Rear Range Light with Camp McDougal

The front light was exhibited from the top of the keeper’s dwelling, while a six-legged tower rising to a height of 95 feet served as the rear light. The lantern and watch room atop the rear light were originally built of cypress wood, and were reached by climbing 112 steps housed in the tower’s central column. The rear light was located a mile an a quarter inland from the front light. By positioning their boats so that one light was positioned atop of the other, like the sites in a gun, captains knew their ship was in the proper channel.

By 1884, the channel into the sound had shifted, creating the need to realign the lights. Rather than move the dwelling, a mobile front range light was constructed to track the shifting channel.

The lights come complete with a Southern tradition, a resident ghost. A fierce hurricane in 1898 didn’t prevent keeper Adam Fripp from tending to his lights. In a driving rain, Fripp made his way to the oil house, and then to the tower and up the spiral staircase. Just as he reached the top, a powerful gust of wind shattered one of the glass panes in the lantern room. The strain of the ascent coupled with the shock of the exploding glass was more than Fripp’s heart could handle. Hours later, his daughter Caroline noticed her father’s prolonged absence and went in search of him. Wearing a long blue dress, Caroline climbed the tower where she discovered her dying father. Fripp implored his daughter to "keep the light burning no matter how dangerous the storm." Caroline was faithful to her father's final wish, sloshing through hip-deep water to replenish the lamps with oil. Several days before anyone made it to the island to check on Fripp. Caroline had managed to tend the light throughout the storm, but her sorrow and exhaustion proved too much, as she died shortly thereafter. Since that time, sightings of a girl in a blue dress near the tall skeletal tower have been reported on dark rainy nights.

The lights were decommissioned in 1932, and the surrounding area subsequently played host to a contingent of Marines during World War II. The facility was known as Camp McDougal, which served as a center for training men, dogs and horses for the southeastern seaboard patrol. Each week, 600 recruits would arrive at the camp, and 600 who had finished training would be shipped off to patrol duties. After the marines left the area, the tower and surrounding land was eventually sold to Greenwood Development Corporation, and in the mid 1980s the lighthouse was incorporated into the new Arthur Hills Golf Course at Palmetto Dunes Resort, where it directs golfers to both the 5th and 15th greens.

The front range light no longer exists, and only the old brick oil house and a cistern stand next to the rear range light. In the 1960s, the two keeper’s dwellings associated with the lighthouse were cut in half and moved to Harbour Town, where they can be found alongside Lighthouse Road. One dwelling serves as a Bakery and Cafe, while the other is currently home to the Sea Pines Real Estate Company. A sign in front of the bakery states that the keeper's cottage was moved from Charleston, but this information seems to be incorrect.

1. Lighthouses of the Carolinas: A Short History and Guide, Terrance Zepke, 1998.
2. Ghosts of the Carolina Coasts, Terrance Zepke, 1999.