June 15, 1962
A newly built lighthouse on Sullivan’s Island, located at the northern entrance to Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, was first lit. “It’s unique among the hundreds of lighthouses in the nation in that its tower is triangular; the better to withstand hurricane winds that periodically pound the coast,” asserted an Associated Press (AP) article a half-century later. “And instead of walking up the tower on a spiral staircase, the lantern room can be reached by elevator.”
Charleston Light was the world’s first lighthouse to be equipped with an elevator. The AP article in 2012 also noted that this lighthouse “is 140 feet [43 meters] high, equal to 15 stories, making it one of the world’s tallest lights.”
Starting with its debut on a Friday evening, Charleston Light (also known as Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse) was long staffed by U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) personnel. This lighthouse was constructed in the first place to replace one on nearby Morris Island after erosion threatened to destroy that structure.
Construction on Charleston Light began in 1960, and this structure was the last onshore staffed lighthouse to be built by the U.S. federal government. Charleston Light originally had 28 million candelas (candlepower), making it the second-brightest lighthouse in the Western Hemisphere. As a result of strong concerns from individuals in the region that this level of illumination was too bright for them, however, the power for Charleston Light was reduced to 1.2 million candelas instead.
Another major readjustment that was made to Charleston Light involved its color scheme. This lighthouse was originally painted both white and — in a color resembling that for USCG helicopters — a hue of red-orange. After Sullivan’s Island residents complained about the distracting appearance of red-orange on Charleston Light, this structure was repainted white and black only.
Charleston Light was designed by Jack Graham, who enlisted in the USCG in 1958. Prior to joining that service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, Graham had studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. One professor at that university’s School of Design who heavily influenced him was Louis Kahn, a renowned architect with a well-known focus on triangles as a key element in blueprints for structures. Consequently, when Graham was asked by the USCG to come up with a design for Charleston Light, he incorporated a triangle-shaped tower as a major part of his proposal. It was also Graham who pushed for having an elevator installed in the new lighthouse.
Charleston Light has been automated since 1975. In 2007, the USCG donated the lighthouse to the National Park Service (NPS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior. While NPS now handles the overall physical upkeep of Charleston Light, the USCG remains responsible for the structure’s lighting apparatus and operations.
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on Charleston Light (also known as Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_Light
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