♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator> The waters off Beaufort County, South Carolina were once navigated by pirates.

Stories of Blackbeard and colonial privateers enhanced the romantic appeal of this lush region, dotted with semi-tropical islands and primal vistas.

♪ American Indians, French, Spanish, and English explorers, the American Revolution and the Civil War helped sculpt the history of the area where rivers, creeks, inlets, islands, and marsh compose a significant portion of the geography.

It is on one of those remote barrier islands that the story of the Hunting Island Light Station takes place.

♪ The Hunting Islands were virtually untouched by humans for centuries.

They were heavily populated by wildlife, but where wildlife thrived, humans did not.

The islands were accessible only by boat and had no substantial source of fresh drinking water.

They were exposed to hurricanes and prone to flooding.

Wetlands created a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

♪ During the summer months, extreme humidity heightened the discomfort of sweltering temperatures.

♪ Thus, as European civilization took hold in South Carolina, these wild, remote islands were deemed uninhabitable and useful only to hunters.

Lawrence Rowland> Early maps, curiously had the word "uninhabitable" written across the barrier islands of South Carolina.

And that's how they got their name as the Hunting Islands.

That's what they used them for, was for livestock raising and for hunting preserves.

And so all the islands between Port Royal Sound and Saint Helen Sound were called in the 18th and early 19th century, The Hunting Islands.

Often named after the families that owned them.

The Reynolds' Hunting Island, The Fripp Hunting Island, The Pritchards' Hunting Island, and Eddings Hunting Island, et cetera, et cetera.

♪ Narrator> During the 19th century, the Hunting Islands remained unpopulated.

Merchant ships sailed past them, carrying goods between the ports of Charleston and Savannah.

Schooners, scows, sloops, and barges carried rice, cotton, produce, and indigo grown in the region.

Trade was profitable during this peaceful time.

♪ The age of piracy and privateering had ended with the American Revolution, but treachery remained in these apparently tranquil waters.

Hidden shoals and shallow areas, sandbars and swift currents contradict the peaceful beauty.

Merchant ships were sometimes ambushed by severe hurricanes, which appeared suddenly without forecast.

[water rushing] So, it was here on this desolate barrier island, now known simply as Hunting Island, that a site was selected for a lighthouse to mark Saint Helena and Port Royal Sounds.

A lightship was anchored nearby, but lightships were unstable in bad weather and difficult to maintain.

A superior navigational aid was needed for these difficult waters.

A 50-acre tract of land at the north end of Hunting Island was purchased by the U.S.

Lighthouse Service, the federal body in charge of America's age to navigation, and in 1859, construction of the new lighthouse was completed.

It was built one fourth of a mile from the shore.

The 95-foot-high tower of brick and stone contained an oil-burning lantern with several wicks, a reflector, and lens.

The war between the States erupted two years after the Hunting Island Lighthouse was built, and the region was occupied by the Union Army.

General William T. Sherman used the antebellum homes of the nearby town of Beaufort for hospitals and offices.

As a result, Sherman spared Beaufort the destruction dealt other southern towns and cities.

Ironically, shortly after the war began, the lighthouse at Hunting Island was destroyed.

Not by Sherman, but by Confederate troops.

It was part of a plan to prevent a blockade by the Union fleet.

> The North, though, have the charts.

They have the maps.

They are excellent seamen.

They know the coastline.

Yes, the lighthouses would have helped them navigate along the coast, but they weren't a necessity.

There was talk during the Civil War by the federal officers here in this area to rebuild the lighthouse, talked about building the fortification around it and reestablishing it.

They never did.

But, for example, they did bring down light ships from the north to replace the light ships that had served in Port Royal Sound, so they could get vessels into Port Royal Sound.

[water rushing] Narrator> If Confederates hadn't destroyed the original Hunting Island light, eventually the ocean would have.

A natural pattern of erosion caused the beach to recede.

And today, the remains of the lighthouse lie underwater about a mile from the shore.

They've been known to damage an occasional shrimp net.

A trade boom caused an explosion in ship traffic after the Civil War.

♪ Phosphate had been discovered in Beaufort Rivers.

Four and five-masted schooners and full-rigged ships wrestled Saint Helena Sound and local waterways carrying this rich agricultural fertilizer to major ports.

Screw propellers, invented by naval architects in England, replaced the paddle wheel.

This enabled large steamships to travel more safely across the heavy waves of the Atlantic.

But the new technology required a deeper draft.

The deep waters of Port Royal Sound were ideal, and the port at Port Royal grew into a major trade center.

♪ South Carolina's lush forests played a part in the post-Civil War trade boom.

Pine trees were logged and hauled to port on the newly completed Port Royal and Augusta Railroad, the first link between the Sea Islands and the mainland.

Sturdy southern pine was in demand for new homes and shops in growing northern cities like New York and Boston.

♪ The railroad also brought coal from the mountains of Tennessee to Port Royal for shipment, and cotton remained a major export item from South Carolina.

More trade meant more ships.

More ships meant greater need for navigational aids, and the US Lighthouse Service decided to rebuild the Hunting Island Lighthouse.

Other sites, such as Edisto or Harbor Island, may have served better, but the federal government had obtained 315 acres on the north end of Hunting Island at a tax sale in 1863.

Congress appropriated funding for the new lighthouse, despite concerns about erosion on the island.

Reconstruction of the Hunting Island Lighthouse began in 1873.

A boat landing at a tidal stream was turned into a temporary wharf and tramway for receiving shipments of building materials.

♪ Conditions were miserable.

The heat and humidity were suffocating.

Mosquitoes caused malaria and work stopped entirely during the summer months.

Erosion remained a threat and jetties were built to try and hold back the encroaching shoreline.

The new lighthouse was built of cast-iron sections that could be taken apart and reassembled.

This meant the tower could be moved farther from the ocean, if necessary.

Some drainage on the island was installed to reduce mosquito infestations.

And eucalyptus trees were planted in the field, with hope of neutralizing the effects of malaria.

Total cost of the lighthouse came to more than 100,000 dollars.

On July 1st, 1875, the new Hunting Island Lighthouse began operation.

It was built 132 feet high, with iron panels weighing about 1,200 pounds each.

The lighthouse tower was built with an interior core of masonry and an iron staircase with 181 steps.

36 anchor bolts secured the iron sections of the tower to an eight foot thick concrete foundation.

Like other lighthouses along the U.S.

coast, it was assigned its own distinct exterior paint scheme.

The upper third of the tower was painted black, and the lower two-thirds white.

During daylight, this helped mariners identify their location.

At night, a flash of light every 30 seconds signaled Hunting Island's individual light pattern.

♪ The Hunting Island Lighthouse was classified as a light of the second order.

This was not an inferior designation, but a technical description based on lens size.

There were seven categories, number one being the largest.

A second ordered light had 100,000 candle power and could be seen for 18 miles.

♪ The top of the lighthouse contained a lantern room equipped with a Fresnel lens, invented in 1822 by French physicist, Augustin Fresnel.

It propelled light signals farther than ever before.

Twice, every minute, a reflector revolved around a lamp containing three concentric wicks, resulting in a flash of light every 30 seconds.

Kerosene was used to fuel the lamp.

John Jones is a longtime Beaufort resident.

As a boy, he hunted and fished at Hunting Island.

He would camp out high in the decommissioned tower to keep away from the mosquitoes.

One night, he and a friend fired up the light.

John> The lamp was actually all it was, with a wick in it.

And that thing heated the- that flame heated the mantle and made it glow white light.

And the light itself didn't move.

It sat right in the middle on that little radius place.

And it was just like a model railroad around a little brass track.

And it worked with a clockwork, weights.

And the "bull's-eye", they called it, was a reflective mirror, that was mounted on that little car that ran around with the weights like a grandfather clock.

And we wound that thing up and lit the lantern and everything- all that stuff was still there.

We lit that thing and let it run a little bit then and got scared, cut the light out.

♪ Narrator> The new Hunting Island Lighthouse was more than just a blinking light.

It was a light station, a dwelling for the light keeper, his two assistants, and their families.

♪ The Hunting Island Light Keeper's house was constructed from the same plans used for the Currituck Sound, North Carolina light station, a two story double house suitable for two or three families.

Fresh rainwater was collected in a cistern and pumped indoors by hand.

There were three outbuildings, a brick oil house, and two storage buildings.

The structures were brought by ship in precut sections, floated ashore on a raft, carried inland by tram, then pieced together at the site.

♪ Life was harsh and lonely.

Light keeper's families were without neighbors and visitors were rare, except for hunting parties or when U.S.

Lighthouse Service ships with names like, the "Dewdrop" or the "Lily," made occasional deliveries of oil and matches, or the coveted wooden book box, which helped stave off the isolation.

A medicine chest must have been well supplied in a remote outpost like Hunting Island.

It would take at least two days to fetch a doctor in an emergency.

♪ In 1876, just one year after the new lighthouse was built, a U.S.

Naval station was established at Port Royal.

Congressman Robert Smalls, a former slave and Civil War hero, purchased land on behalf of the federal government for the naval shipyard at Parris Island.

Now there was an even greater number of vessels in the waters of Beaufort County and an even more powerful federal presence.

♪ Regardless of the number of ships requiring navigational aid, the job of light keeper was the same.

It required strength, commitment to duty, and attention to detail.

The keeper and his two assistants each worked daily, eight-hour shifts.

They would spend four hours on watch in the tower and four hours maintaining the equipment.

During watch, they kept the lamps full and often carried 50 pound containers of oil up each step of the tower.

They regularly reset a 200 pound weight to keep the lens rotating.

Brass lanterns and glass globes were meticulously cleaned by hand every day to keep the light signal bright and clear.

Wicks were trimmed and the lens was polished, prism by prism.

Both the interior and exterior of the lighthouse were kept freshly painted.

The Lighthouse Service expected keepers to maintain an impeccable facility, despite relatively low pay.

♪ Many 19th-century light keepers were of European birth.

They came to America from Ireland, Norway, Germany, and Sweden, looking for work.

German immigrant, August Wichman, took a job with the U.S.

Light Service at Hunting Island in the late-19th century.

His son, Fred Wichman, remembers him with admiration.

Fred> This is not something that's widely known or appreciated today, but somebody had to go up on the very top pinnacle of that tower and paint every inch of it.

My father usually did that because he said he didn't want to risk another man doing it and falling.

The wind always blows at the top of that tower.

Narrator> August Wichman was 62 years old in 1930 when his young American wife gave birth to their son at Cape Romaine, South Carolina.

By then, Wichman had been promoted from assistant keeper at Hunting Island to keeper, then transferred to keeper at Cape Romaine.

Light keepers were given low salaries and few benefits, but the U.S.

Lighthouse Service provided its employees with furnishings and uniforms.

A U.S.

Lighthouse Service lint brush is a reminder of the fastidiousness and attention to detail required of light keepers.

The agency demanded an orderly thriftiness, and right or wrong, its policies were strict.

♪ About once a month, the light keeper made an arduous trip into the town of Beaufort for supplies like flour, rice, and tea.

This took two or three days, first across Johnson Creek to Saint Helena Island by rowboat, then across Saint Helena and Lady's Island by mule to the banks of the Beaufort River.

Then again by boat into town.

This took a full day and required an overnight stay in Beaufort.

Shopping was done the following morning.

Then another day long trip home, loaded with supplies.

Staples to supplement the fish and game and vegetables grown in the family gardens.

♪ Fears about continued erosion at Hunting Island were confirmed during the lighthouse's first year of operation.

The beach eroded drastically and the ocean crept closer to the light station each year.

A wooden revetment was no match for nature.

[water rushing] The hurricane of 1881 took several feet of shore.

By 1887, the water was within 35 feet of the keeper's house.

Two years later, the government was forced to move the light station one and a quarter miles to the south, away from the approaching sea.

It was an enormous task.

The old tramway was repaired and new track was built.

Carpenter shops and blacksmiths shops and storehouses for construction materials were built.

A derrick was erected, the tower disassembled, hauled to its new location and pieced together on a new base of brick and cement.

Reconstruction was delayed by bad weather, and once the work began, it was slow.

During relocation of the lighthouse, a temporary light ship was placed offshore.

Removal and reconstruction of the lighthouse was completed in September 1889.

The entire light station was in place by spring of the following year.

[lightning strikes] The hurricane of August 1893 hastened the severe erosion that had prompted the relocation of the lighthouse.

It also resulted in the famous wreck of the 272-foot steamship, the "City of Savannah."

The ship left Boston with nearly 70 people on board, and it was headed home for Georgia when it ran aground off Saint Helena Island.

It appeared on the verge of breaking up when the women and children were sent ashore in lifeboats.

The men spent two terrible nights lashed to the masts before they were finally rescued by the vessel, the "City of Birmingham."

Meanwhile, the women and children made it to safety and were cared for on Saint Helena Island and by the light keeper on Hunting Island.

Miraculously, all survived the wreck, though 2,000 people were killed in the storm.

The hurricane of 1893 also destroyed the infrastructure necessary for trade.

The railroad was wiped out and politics killed the phosphate industry.

The Charleston Harbor was dredged and the naval shipyard was moved there for political reasons.

By 1900, maritime activity had slowed dramatically.

It was during this seemingly quiet period in 1911 that a hurricane struck and August Wichman distinguished himself.

Fred> And the tower shook during the storm, significantly.

To such an extent that the glass shades on the little lamps inside the giant reflector kept falling off, which necessitated someone going into that giant reflector and replacing those glass shades.

Had they not replaced them, it would have blackened up the reflector and the light would not have shown effectively.

So my father stood by that job and kept the light burning throughout the entire hurricane, which he felt was his duty.

And it was.

But the light never went out.

Only problem is, he was temporarily blinded when he came out of that hurricane.

He spent three weeks in the hospital in Charleston, and thereafter, he wore glasses.

Narrator> Wichman was recognized for his dedication with a promotion to light keeper at Cape Romain, a light of the first order and a plum assignment.

♪ The Great Depression brought an end to the Lighthouse Service, and in 1933, the Hunting Island Lighthouse was deactivated, replaced by a buoy, and turned over to the US Coast Guard.

Once again, the main activity on Hunting Island was hunting.

♪ After deactivation, the internal mechanism of the lighthouse was removed and sold as surplus.

♪ During the 1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corps was assigned to Hunting Island.

Young men lived in the keeper's house and at a temporary campsites.

They worked in the thick forests and swamps, carving out causeways, roads, wells, and campgrounds for a new state park.

♪ In 1938, during the CCC project at Hunting Island, the keeper's house was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin.

Fortunately, no one was killed, and the boys who lived there moved to campsites until their project ended.

♪ In 1939, Hunting Island was linked to the mainland for the first time by construction of the Saint Helena Hunting Island Bridge.

But it wasn't until after World War II that a road was built from the bridge across Saint Helena Island.

During World War II, the lighthouse tower proved useful as a lookout post for enemy ships and submarines, and the island was used for war exercises.

[water rushing] Today, these once remote and uninhabitable barrier islands contain valuable real estate.

The white sand resorts and upscale residential properties of Fripp and Harbor Islands neighbor the popular public beaches and campgrounds at what is now Hunting Island State Park.

The old tramway has been renovated into a trail for nature walks led by park naturalists.

What was once a three day trip to town for supplies is a 20-minute drive and malaria-carrying mosquitoes are no longer a threat.

The historic Hunting Island Light Station is the only one in South Carolina open to the public.

Volunteers have preserved the lighthouse tower and unearthed the foundation of the keeper's house and support buildings.

They have documented the history and natural amenities of the park and the light station, through their restoration and through displays and dioramas at the park's visitors center.

[water rushing] Erosion remains a problem here, but this once remote barrier island now receives about a million visitors a year.

Many of them enjoy self-guided tours of the old light station.

It no longer serves as a navigational aid, but as an educational tool, shining its light on the past.

When a small group of dedicated people endured a lonely post and kept a light on treacherous waters.

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