Lighthouse of the Week, October 3-9, 2021: Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, USA

 

This is the third in a series of "weird" lighthouses.  This time, the Lighthouse of the Week features coastal South Carolina, on Sullivan's Island, which is right here.  Sullivan's Island is part of greater Charleston, and it's not very far from Fort Sumter, which has a certain notable connection to the American Civil War.

Looking at the lighthouse, it looks rectangular, white at the bottom, black on the top.  So let's find out a bit more about it.

First of all, it has it's own Web site:  SullivansIsland.com

That Web site tells us that this lighthouse is fairly new, as lighthouses go, having been built in 1962.

It also has an elevator, and air-conditioning.  Once owned by the Coast Guard, it's now operated by the Coast Guard but owned by the National Park Service, under the auspices of the Fort Sumter National Monument.

The Lighthouse Directory gives us some basics:

"1962. Active; focal plane 163 ft (50 m); two quick white flashes, separated by 5 s, every 30 s. 140 ft (43 m) aluminum (steel-framed) trapezoidal tower with overhanging lantern, top half black, lower half white; DCB-24 aerobeacon."

And it adds that this lighthouse was the last one built by the Federal government, and also that the light failed in 2018, but they fixed it and turned it on again in 2019.

Knowing that, now for illustrations: