Rear Lighthouse of Hilton Head Range Light Station - Leamington Lighthouse, South Carolina

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The Rear Lighthouse of the Hilton Head Range Light Station was constructed by the United States Light House Board in 1879-1880 as part of a system of lights and beacons to guide shipping in Port Royal Sound. The lighthouse is one of the few surviving lighthouses in South Carolina, and is the only one of its type remaining in the state.

The need for navigation lights at Hilton Head had been acknowledged in 1854 when money was appropriated by Congress for a lighthouse and beacon light. No work was done until 1863 when the federal occupying forces established an anchored light-hip and a system of range lights to guide shipping in Port Royal Sound. This system was inactive by 1869.

Congress appropriated $40,000 in 1876 for a new system of range lights at Hilton Head. Plans for the system were approved by the United States Light House Board in May 1877, but work was delayed by difficulties in securing title to the land. The contract for the project was finally let in 1879 and the lights were completed in 1880. They were placed in service the next year.

The system consisted of the Rear Lighthouse, a ninety-five-foot cast-iron tower; a keeper's house close to the rear lighthouse; and a forward light, which consisted of a shorter tower on a second keeper's house over a mile in front of the Rear Lighthouse.

Mariners seeking entrance to Port Royal Sound would steer their vessels towards the two lights until the lower front light was seen to align with the taller rear light. At this point, the Tybee Island lighthouse would be visible on a port bearing to guide ships into Savannah.

The navigation channel and the Hilton Head Beach frequently shifted location, requiring several relocations of the front beacon to ensure the system's integrity. In 1884, in recognition of the likelihood that the channel would continue to shift, a movable keeper's house incorporating the front light was built. This movable house enabled ready adjustment of the front light, and several such moves were required in the 1890s.

A small brick oil house was built in 1892 to store the oil required by the Rear Lighthouse. In 1893 the Hains lamps were replaced with Funck-Heap lamps.

The system was thoroughly renovated around 1913, at which time the sheet steel sheathing was probably installed on the rear lighthouse cylinder. The system was taken out of service and the Rear Lighthouse was abandoned sometime in the 1930s.

Site Description

The Rear Lighthouse of the Hilton Head Range Light Station was built in 1879-1880 by the United States Light House Board as part of a system of navigation lights guiding shipping in Port Royal Sound. The Rear Lighthouse and a small oil house survive from the complex, which originally included a keeper's house and a forward beacon, which was mounted on a second keeper's house.

The Hilton Head Range Light Station was designed and built by the United States Light House Board in 1879-1880. The Rear Lighthouse, the major surviving element of the complex, consists of a cast-iron skeleton, a cylindrical stair tower, and a wooden watch room and lantern room structure. Six concrete foundation bases define a hexagon some thirty feet in diameter. The sectional cast-iron columns are bolted to the concrete bases. The columns rise in five stages, with cast-iron channels connecting the columns at each junction. Wrought-iron tie bars with pinned connections provide diagonal bracing at each stage. The stair tower is built on a concrete base at the center of the hexagon. It contains a cast-iron spiral stair with four intermediate landings and four windows. The tower was originally sheathed in wood; sheet steel sheathing was added, probably in 1913. The stair cylinder is tied to the iron skeleton by iron tension bars.

The hexagonal watch room is at the top of the stairs and the skeleton frame. A narrow cast-iron gallery girds the watch room, which has wooden siding and interior paneling. The lantern room is above the watch room; the original focal plane of the light was eighty-seven feet from the concrete base, and ninety-two feet above sea level. The Light could be seen from fifteen miles away. None of the lantern hardware is intact.

A small brick oil house with a gable roof is intact adjacent to the rear lighthouse. Other outbuildings associated with the system, including the keeper's house, the wooden walkways, and the front beacon, have not survived.

The lighthouse is currently vacant and situated in a pine grove adjacent to a golf course.