The first settlement in the area of present day Charleston was made in 1670. At that time, two channels led to the harbor. One ran east along Sullivan’s Island and the second ran south along what is now known as Morris Island. Before the 1800s, Morris Island was actually three separate islands. The northernmost was called Cummings Island, the central was called Morrison’s Island, and the southernmost was known as Middle Bay Island. When the inlets that separated the islands silted in, the resulting large island was called Morris Island.

In 1673, the early settlers established the first navigational aid on what would become Morris Island. The crude light consisted of a “fier” ball of oakum and pitch that was elevated in an open iron basket. Eventually, his Majesty King George III ordered the construction of a formal lighthouse, and accordingly the cornerstone for the structure was laid on May 30, 1767.

The tower rose forty-three feet and served well, until it was darkened for a period during the Revolutionary War. After the war, one of the first acts of the new Congress was to establish the Lighthouse Service, which took control of all existing navigational aids. The South Carolina Legislature thus transferred the Charleston Lighthouse along with 565 acres on Middle Bay Island to the federal government. Various improvements were subsequently made to increase the range of the light. During 1801 and 1802, the tower was heightened, and in 1812 an Aragand lamp-reflector system was installed.

Morris Island Lighthouse with dwelling Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

In the 1830s, the Lighthouse Service built a new, 102-foot tower to replace the 1767 tower. A hurricane, which struck the lighthouse in 1854, destroyed the keeper’s dwelling and damaged the tower. When the lighthouse was repaired, it also received a second-order Fresnel lens. The tower had survived the battle with the hurricane, but it would not see the end of the War Between the States, which would soon erupt nearby.

When South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in December of 1860, it took control of all the lights on its coastline and towed the Rattlesnake Shoal Lightship into Charleston Harbor. The lens was removed from the Morris Island Lighthouse, and the tower was converted into an observation post. Just a few months later, in April of 1861, shots were fired at Fort Sumter, located just north of the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor, and the war was underway. The Confederates were able to hold onto Charleston for most of the war, but during the course of the conflict, much of the city was burned or blown up, and the Morris Island Lighthouse was destroyed.

Many of the southern lights were quickly rebuilt or repaired and returned to service following the war. However, it wasn’t until March 3, 1873 that funds were appropriated for a new tower on Morris Island. To provide a proper foundation for what would be a first order seacoast light, over two hundred wooden piles were driven fifty feet into the sand. Above the pilings, an eight-foot-thick concrete foundation was poured. The base of the foundation had a diameter of thirty-three feet and tapered to sixteen feet eight inches at its top. This sizable foundation was necessary to support the brick tower, which would rise over 150 feet into the air and weigh close to 4,000 tons. A three-story dwelling was built for the keepers, and the light from the tower's first-order Fresnel lens was activated on October 1, 1876. The tower was built using the same plans as Bodie Island Lighthouse and was painted with the same horizontal black and white markings.

A year after the completion of the third Morris Island Lighthouse, Charleston petitioned Congress for funds to construct jetties at the entrance to its harbor. The channel at that point was only twelve feet deep, and it was hoped that the jetties would constrict the harbor’s outflow and scour out a channel with a greater depth. Over the next thirteen years, the jetties slowly grew to a length of just under three miles. The jetties succeeded in deepening the main channel, but they also altered the sand transport patterns at the entrance to the harbor. Even before the completion of the jetties, it was evident that both Sullivan’s Island and Morris Island were losing large amounts of sand. To counter the erosion of the islands, plans were drawn up for spurs to be extended from both the northern and southern jetty. Two spurs were added to the northern jetty, providing protection for Sullivan’s Island, but those planned for the southern jetty were never completed. Morris Island thus continued to slowly dissolve. In 1880, the lighthouse stood 2,700 feet from the water. By 1938, the lighthouse was at the water’s edge, and today the lighthouse is its own island, roughly 1,600 feet offshore.

Before erosion had washed away the tower’s buffer zone, other forces of nature tested the integrity of the lighthouse. First, in 1885, a powerful hurricane, packing winds in excess of 125 miles per hour, struck the Charleston area. The storm claimed twenty-one lives in Charleston, but the tower was not damaged. Then just a year later, an earthquake struck. The quake destroyed several structures in Charleston, including two churches, and damaged the lighthouse. The tower was cracked in two places, and the giant lens was displaced.

As the land surrounding the lighthouse disappeared, it became apparent that the tower would have to be automated. The large keepers’ dwelling was sold, then dismantled and removed from the island. The other remaining structures were razed before the water could wash them away. Finally, the lens was removed from the tower and replaced by a modern optic on June 22, 1938.

In 1956, the Coast Guard announced plans to construct a modern tower on stable Sullivan’s Island and deactivate the Morris Island Lighthouse, which was now standing offshore. The new tower was completed in 1962, and the Morris Island Lighthouse fell dark. At one time the Coast Guard had plans to tear down the old tower, but locals protested, and the structure survived.

The tower along with 421 acres of submerged land and 140 acres of Morris Island were eventually auctioned off, and John Richardson became the owner of the lighthouse for the sum of $3,303.03. S.E. Felkel subsequently purchased the tower in 1966 for $25,000. Thirty years later, Paul Gunter acquired the tower and eighty acres of submerged land in a foreclosure sale against Felkel. Gunter soon announced his intention to sell the lighthouse for $100,000. Not wanting to see the lighthouse fall into the hands of yet another developer, Save the Light, Inc. was quickly formed and purchased the tower for $75,000 in 1999. Save the Light sold the lighthouse for $1 in 2000 to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, who then leased the light back to preservation group. This move will permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work towards stabilizing the lighthouse.

During a two-week period in 2002, from May 24th to June 9th, the Morris Island Lighthouse was lit once again. Floodlights were installed underneath the walkway atop the tower, and the tower was alternately bathed in white, red, green, blue and purple light. The project was carried out by artist Kim Sooja, as part of the Spoleto Festival held annually in Charleston. The artistic display brought national attention to the endangered lighthouse, which will hopefully help in its preservation.

In 2008, the first phase of a restoration plan was completed. The work included the installation of a cofferdam that was sunk thirty feet beneath the seabed and projects about fifteen feet above the water at low tide. The interlocking, Z-shaped beams are protected by riprap that prevents the current from scouring out the sand beneath the cofferdam. The next phase of the project, which will include jet-grouting the foundation and filling the inside of the cofferdam with sand and a concrete cap, will be undertaken in 2009. You can check out a live shot of the work being done to save Morris Island Lighthouse by clicking here.

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References

1. "Morris Island Lighthouse," Douglas W. Bostick, The Keeper's Log, Fall 2001.
2. Save the Light website.

Absolute Reel Screamer Charters offers a Dolphin/Lighthouse Tour that will get you a good view of the lighthouse, and Sandlapper Tours offers Nature Tours that may go to the Morris Island Lighthouse.