08/08/2025
Completed in 1856 and standing just 46 ft. tall, Georgia’s oldest and shortest lighthouse is cause for celebration on National Lighthouse Day!
A daymark was first constructed on Cockspur Island in 1837 and illuminated in 1849, but destroyed by a hurricane just five years later. Built of ‘Savannah Gray’ bricks and ironwork from Baltimore, MD, today’s existing lighthouse was finished in 1856. Equipped with a Fresnel lens, this was an enormous improvement over the series of lamps and reflectors that had lit the previous tower.
Extinguished by Confederate forces in 1861 to hinder US Navy blockading efforts, the lighthouse stood directly in the crossfire of the April 1862 bombardment of Fort Pulaski. US Army and Confederate artillery exchanged more than 7,000 rounds in just thirty hours. 251 tons of shot and shell passed overtop the lighthouse - miraculously, the light emerged unscathed.
Relit once more in 1866, the lighthouse continued to safely guide mariners into the 20th century. However, as commercial vessels continued to grow larger, the north channel became the primary shipping lane to Savannah’s port and the lighthouse was extinguished in 1909.
The Cockspur Island Lighthouse was transferred from the US Coast Guard to Fort Pulaski National Monument in 1958 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Today the base of the lighthouse is regularly submerged at high-tide, and the structure is continually beaten by wind and waves. Despite the immense challenges presented by such a harsh environment, the National Park Service has remained committed to preserving Savannah River’s silent sentinel.
