Episode 83 - Sapelo Island Lighthouse

0:00 Hi everybody, I'm Emily. And I'm Vince. And this is The Lighthouse Lowdown. Nice. Correct my chair. Happy Wednesday for us. Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. Yeah, nice. Almost Friday. I don't even know what day it is. My Garmin watch is having me do lots of arm circles, which has made my neck very stiff. But I'm ready for the podcast. All right. Any questions before we start? About what? I don't know, my day, how it's going. Oh, for the audience. So I was listening to another podcast and they were talking about how you should include all of your flaws because it builds credibility.

0:48 Oh, yeah. It's one way to, you know, clearly we're kind of goofy and it does or doesn't work sometimes. And the fact that we have so much out there that's... Of a more natural conversation quality. Yeah. Supposedly it builds some type of trustworthiness. Yeah. Yeah, I understand that. That's why all of our intros are the way they are, in case you were wondering. Well, you always want people to be real. You don't want them to be like. Yeah, but they're not. Like most of the time they're not. Most productions, most podcasts, most shows, most radio. Only trimmed, only polished. Anyways. Yeah, well, I think if I were trying to communicate that I was well -respected and very knowledgeable on the subject, I wouldn't want to... You would speak with an English accent. That's a good one. History buoy.

1:43 I have one. What episode? What episode? 83. 83. Welcome. Why did you decide to cut into my groove like that? What is a history buoy in case we have new listeners? We don't. No, I'm just kidding. We have new subscribers every week. Thank you all on YouTube. Oh, yeah. I saw a couple of them come in. I get emails. It's just a little blip. Maybe something related to the episode. Maybe something not. Just something fun to give a little information about. I like it. The history buoy. We've got to warm up before we start the lighthouse. That's right. So we have a history buoy. Let's float this thing. Speaking of floating, we're going to do an extension of our history buoy from last time, which was life -saving stations.

2:27 And we missed a category because there were only two stations within this category. And I think it's important that we give this category its screen time as well as the more well -known versions. So today we're going to cover floating. Life -saving stations. Cool. Which was a very special small category, two stations, and I'm going to talk very briefly about each of them. All right. So, like I said last episode, we talked about the kinds of U .S. life -saving service stations, but this was the one that we did not talk about because it's only got a couple members. There was two floating life -saving stations in the United States, one in, is it Louisville, Kentucky?

3:08 Yeah, Louisville. Louisville, Kentucky, and one in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The Kentucky one was an inland floating life -saving station called the Ohio River Life -Saving Station No. 10. I don't know much about if they all had numbers. Yeah, I don't remember any other life -saving station having a number connected to it, so I'm not sure why specifically this one had a number. But it was stationed at the falls of the Ohio River, which I read was the only obstruction in the entire length. of the ohio river was this one area that was just had falls so i don't know if that's still true today you know like i don't know i would kind of i'd bet so that's kind of cool but apparently it's two and a half miles of white water rapids so it had to be marked with something and so i pulled up a photo they have of the plans when they were drawing up they kind of showed this obstruction in the river and like what the flow looked like and how they were gonna And then we have a picture here of the life -saving station. It looks like a paddle wheel boat. It does. It looks like a steamboat.

4:17 What was that movie? Murder on the Nile? Oh, yeah. Death on the Nile? Death on the Nile. Something like that. Mystery movie film, which was also a book, I think. Yes. But that type of boat, if you want to look that up. Same as Murder on the Orient Express, right? The same author. Yeah. Very good movie. Different boat. Oh, and there was one with a ghost or something. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't be able to remember. We saw it in theaters. Ghost of Venice or something. Murder and... I can't remember. Anyways. Anyway, yes. Same vibes. Which is probably, they took some, probably took some, what is it called?

4:59 Inspiration. Yes, inspiration for this from... what they had at the time that resembled it. So that would make sense. But they provided rescue services at the water rapids there for all the vessel traffic through the water system. So the foundation consists of a barge. So we got that much. We know that. And the superstructure of the station has two decks and a lookout tower, which is pretty cute. Cute little thing. Tiny cupola. It had steel pipe stanchions. which supported a walkway around the second deck and the eaves of the roof. And the roof was built with a pronounced crown. I don't really know what that means exactly, if it's like this looks like a balcony kind of like railing. Maybe. They also had a boathouse, which was located on one end, which housed the surf boats needed for the station, which they called Reckless and Ready. Two boats. One called Reckless. Oh, those are the names. One called Ready. Yeah. Reckless and Ready. I'm like, those are very different vibes. That's cool though.

6:00 Yeah. So this one opened in 1881 and was decommissioned in the 1970s. So almost a century on the water. Kind of crazy. That is crazy. Especially, I mean, right next to, they're not like waterfalls, but they're rapids. Yeah, there's water moving. That sounds terrible. Going on. That sounds like a very hazardous place. Yeah. They had tons of stories online about stuff that they encountered. Lots of rescues and things. So they were, like, always on because traffic is constantly moving through the area. I don't know. I mean, I don't know what it was like for, like, light ships with how often, like, I don't know how often, like, big ships would come through a harbor or something. A lot, I think. Yeah. But here, so just to clarify, this lookout tower, there's no light in there, right? No. It's not signaling.

6:46 It's unlit. It was just a crew of people to... go out on the water if something went wrong. So our second one was the Boster Harbor one called City Point Station. I have a photo of that one as well. Well, it's not a photo. It's like a painting, I think. A postcard. Might have been a photo at one time. Yeah, maybe. Because there is a person in the picture, which I can't imagine. Well, I don't know. They painted people before. So this one opened in 1896. So just like... 15 years after the other floating station. So there had to have been some successes that would make them want to build another one. Yeah. And this one was decommissioned during World War II sometime.

7:32 Oh, I didn't look up how to pronounce this. Dorchester Bay, that's what I'm going to say. Of course. Which had lots of yacht and sailboat accidents. So we're in the bougie area, lots of liberties being taken with their fancy boats. And thus, we need somebody to be keeping an eye on. It's crazy. I don't know that I've ever seen that style of boat before. I don't even know what to say about it, where it can launch boats from inside. Yeah. Like a channel. Maybe the military has something like that. Oh, it's like a boathouse, but the boathouse is also floating. Yes. It is interesting. I never noticed the big gaping hole in the side. Catamaran? Is that what that style is? Oh, I don't know. Like where it's got the multiple. It's not a pontoon. Anyways, you got some boat research to do. At least he said that very assuredly. It's not a pontoon. But yeah, interestingly, that's one of those hard words.

8:30 Interestingly. Interestingly. Life -saving stations had keepers just like lighthouses did. So they talk a lot about how someone who's stationed at one life -saving station as a keeper will retire and go to another life -saving station. Yeah. So I just didn't know that. I thought it was interesting. That you'd have a keeper. I mean, it makes sense. A head honcho. Someone in charge of the operation. Yeah, that's going to travel between. That'd be interesting. I feel like that'd be a fun job. You know, the life -saving part is a little stressful. You'd have to get in the water a ton. Like keepers, they don't have to get in the water a lot, except for when they're like really exemplary. Yeah. Like keepers where they actually go out there instead of just like alerting somebody. Listen, I'm aware this is a dumb thing to say, but I'm going to put it out there. You know, like Navy SEALs. like special forces where I don't know if you've ever watched like any other training, their, their buds system. It's crazy. Uh, their training that they do, but anyone who goes through that Navy program has to be extremely well adept at swimming and, uh, very mentally tough. And they, they do all these things where they try to drown you basically. Uh, and they, you know, some people do drown and they have to revive them. Oh my gosh. It's a real crazy thing. These are not normal men. These are crazy people. They don't have that thing that's supposed to make you scared of living or dying. Highly intense folks. And I'm glad they're out there protecting us. But they have to become super, super, super

10:02 comfortable swimming in water and become very athletic in that endeavor. Anyways, back in these days where we're talking about life -saving people, the top thing we talked about for... lighthouse keeper deaths was drowning, which seems kind of obvious. But I wonder, like, these folks, like, were they swimming every day? Are they doing dives? Are they doing drills or anything? Like, was it, you know, were these all 20 -year -old men that were just ready to swim and rescue people? Or are these people of all ages? Is this something that you would retire from early? I don't know. I can't believe you talked through my whole sentence. My headset's really killing me. I'm sorry. Do you want to try it? My last of three headsets? Yeah, yeah. If anyone wants to sponsor this podcast so I can not hold my hand to my ear to keep the wire connected to the other wire, please reach out. We're poor.

11:01 We're planning a wedding. We have no money. We have negative money. Hold, please. We'll be right back after no sponsored message. Did you see that you can, you probably didn't get this message. Oh, I like that. Dance. Dance. All right. Just so everyone knows, now I am wearing a set of Ferrari brand, like the car. So they should really sponsor this. Headset. Well, these are from circa 2015, 2014. My brother gave me these. And they are mid -level quality headphones, to be honest with you. Yeah. But they are in the form of the Pitlane Formula One headset. I don't think Ferrari's in Formula One, so that's even more confusing.

11:59 Oh, absolutely they are. Yes, they are. Oh, you're having a stroke. I was thinking of NASCAR. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. They're not in that. For sure. Anyways, so. I'm so glad that this problem has been solved and just in time because we're moving on to our lighthouse of the day. All right, let's go. We're going to be talking about a Georgia lighthouse today. This is our first Georgia lighthouse that we're covering. The state of Georgia in the U .S. of A. The peach. Just to clarify, there is a country. We're talking about the state, the U .S. state. Okay. I pulled up a map of where we're going. The Sapelo Lighthouse. Sapelo Island Lighthouse is what we're talking about today.

12:47 And Sapelo Island is practically attached to the mainland of Georgia. But it's one of like the big barrier islands that's along the coast. The fourth largest. Golf courses. Is there really? Oh, I'm sure. I'm not surprised by that. The history here points to being an affluent community. Nice. In a lot of areas. It's 12 miles long and 3 miles wide and was originally inhabited by Spanish missionaries and also French and English settlers in the past. That is until 1802 when the island was purchased by Thomas Spalding. This guy has gone down in history. We have lots. He has his own Wikipedia page. Spalding as in the sports brand? Unlikely. Okay. I mean, possible, but I think unlikely. When you hear the history.

13:41 On the island, he established a productive plantation, growing sea island cotton, sugar cane, and rice with the help of roughly 400 slaves. Yeah, I saw where this was going. And he had lots of other plantations and, like, island. He owned another island. His dad. became really rich and left it to his son, and he was a lawyer. Even though he never practiced, he went to Congress, and he was all up in history. In 1816, Spalding sold five acres at the southern end of the island for $1 for the building of a lighthouse. So it was just like a... What a deal. Yeah, the dollar was just a... What's the word? Formality? Yeah, like, yeah. Representative? Mm -hmm. A legality.

14:31 And I read a little bit about it. I won't go too deep. It's hard because, especially in this episode, you could go deep into anything for an episode. So I kind of have to refocus on the lighthouse. Especially, it's whenever it goes into history, like the Civil War, like around that era, everything. Civil War? I said civil. Let the record reflect. I guess I will listen back and decide. Silver war? Maybe. And it started to silverware on them, and they really wanted out of it. They are the worst. Okay, whatever. I'm pretty sure I said civil, and you're just still having your stroke from earlier. He said around the silver, the civil war. Anyway, I read that he wanted this area to be a U .S. naval base, and he thought that the lighthouse would.

15:29 in that. I don't know what kind of stake he had in it being something like the U .S. Navy. I don't know. Maybe he liked the Navy. Maybe he wanted to fight the North and he was talking about the Confederate Army because he was a slave owner. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe he wanted money because he had property. Yeah, I think he was planning on being, you know, like president. The president. Mr. High Society. I think that was his life goal. Back in the day, you'd just be rich and you'd just be like, I'm going to be the president now. You know what? There's only like 100 people here. My chances are pretty good. But anyway, so he sold the five acres to the U .S. so that they could build a lighthouse.

16:17 And Winslow Lewis, our... Winslow. Yeah. One of our favorites. was contracted to build the 90 -foot tapered white brick lighthouse. Can I guess? 1890. Winslow Lewis Lighthouse fell early. No. Okay. It's shocking. This is the first one. This must have been the golden one. Yeah, this must have been before, you know, I won't continue, but it was brick. And the ones that he built that were... really, really poor quality were always rubble stone that fell apart. Yeah, they stacked stones on top. Yeah, so I'm thinking... This was a brick. Maybe... House. Ow. Lighthouse.

17:05 This is terrible. You're welcome. 1819, he started construction on this lighthouse. added 15 of his 16 -inch reflectors and lamps, which I read consumed 540 gallons of oil annually. Okay. That's a ton. That's a lot of oil. Lots and lots of oil. It doesn't sound like that much. Well, you're wrong. 500 gallons annually, 540. For just some lamps. 10 gallons a week, roughly. Okay. Think about a gallon. So... Whatever you're going to say, you're like, no. So I pulled a picture, a really old one, of the light tower when it was white and our keeper's cottage. Looks haunted.

17:56 I can't remember what they said. Oh, it was basically disproven, so I didn't even write it down. It was some fact that they were like, this used to be the house of somebody, something haunted. and then they moved it to this location, and that was the Keeper's Cottage. But then they said that there's record of this house being built as the Keeper's Cottage, so there was no point in mentioning it. But yes, haunted is the general vibe. The lighthouse was activated a year later, 1820, and marked... Doughboy? Doughboy sound? Doughboy? Doughboy? Doughboy? Is it D -B -O -I -S? D -O -B -O -Y. Doughboy. Oh, I have no idea. Okay, so I think it's Doughboy. Doughboy sound. Biggie Smalls. Biggie Smalls and Chance the Rapper. Doughboy sound. I don't think I ever have to mention it again. So we're just going to, I could have just wiped it out. Stop it.

19:16 Marked it for the mariners traveling to and from the port of Darien, which is where lumber and crops collected after being produced in Georgia. So it was like this huge timber port. And so obviously there was tons of action happening around this area, which is why they had to have a lighthouse in the first place. Sugar. That wasn't a joke. It's just when you say things so randomly, like I never mentioned sugar. You know, someone out there, I say sugar and they're like, yeah, Georgia. He's right, actually. Honey, did you know? It's just kind of my type of humor, I think. I think you're funny without meaning to because it's me specifically. Maybe somebody else wouldn't think that's funny, but I think it's hilarious. You're so funny. Thank you. Okay.

20:10 1850. So we're going 30 years later. I don't know. There's not much in that time period. The day mark of the light was changed from white to red and white stripe to help distinguish it in the daytime. So we're just making our day mark a little more noticeable, a little more easier to spot. So I have a picture of when that was changed. We love... Bold stripes. It's a big, thick lighthouse. It's nice. It's got a pleasing profile. The ratio of lantern room to the width of the lantern room to the width of the lighthouse is really nice. I just like it.

20:52 Four years after they changed the day mark, so 1854, the light was given a fourth order Fresnel lens, so we're kicking. lamps and now we're going to Fresnel lens and produced a bright white flash every 40 seconds added to its fixed white characteristic which basically just means that they added a bullseye lens on yeah normal lens so kind of cute kind of fun special we find out later that this characteristic continues to be special as it ages A year after that, in 1855, the board requested $1 ,500 for a beacon at the southern tip of the island. Not a lighthouse, a beacon.

21:38 Which would form a range light with Sapolo Island Lighthouse to help mariners find... The proper channel for entering the sound, which I'll go back. And a range light is where you align two. Yes. Versus a sector. So that you know you're going in the correct direction by aligning with two lighthouses. A sector is like multicolor. Yes. Yeah. That's like if you lose sight of the light. If you're in the red, you're in the red. Yeah. So I went back to the maps. So you can see. all the channels that they're talking about, that there's some correct ones down in the bottom left corner. That's the Port of Darien. And so apparently they want you to travel through one of these channels that's past the lighthouse.

22:24 Or, I mean, I'm sure that this down here, Altamaha River, that was probably a good entrance. But something about this area, they're like, enter here and follow the lights. So they added that beacon in 1856 with a fourth order lens. So they kind of matched each other in power. Mariners were told to, quote, bring the beacon in range with the main light and run for them until the outer or east beacon on Wolf Island was at a specific bearing. Wolf Island is just south of Sapelo Island. We're going back to Spalding. We're going to talk about him a little bit more. He was a slaver. What else? He passed away in 1851 on the way back from fighting against the abolition of slavery at a convention. He was murdered. It didn't specify, but he was at one of his other houses. I'm sure it would have said murdered if he were killed by somebody. I think he was old and just passed away. I'm pretty sure he was born in 1773. Oh my. He was old. Yeah, so he was like 80 -something. For those times, yeah. His son continued his operation in the South End House, which was the plantation mansion that he built on the island in 1802 when he first moved there. And it was like, it took like eight years to complete, and of course, it was all

23:55 built by slaves. Just whatever. His son was chased from the house by the Union Army, which took over the island in 1862 during the Civil War. So he kind of planted his butt in there until he was forced to leave the house. Yeah. And the mansion was just absolutely trashed, left in ruins until it was purchased and restored decades later. I have some pictures of it. Now it's known usually as the Reynolds House. There was several names for it, of course, as it was owned over time. And now it's owned by the state of Georgia. You can have parties there or something. So this was one long photo, and I separated it into two so you can see it better. So this was the architect's drawing of what they wanted it to look like.

24:45 So it ended up pretty much like that. And then below is the ruins that it was left in after the Civil War. Not so good. Lots of growths and whatnot. Yeah. Lots of stuff. And then the one on top of that is when it was purchased the first time. I can't remember by who. I want to say it was a car guy. I can't remember. Jay Leno? No. But then it was purchased another time by a guy with the last name Reynolds. Okay. And he made it into what you see today, like outdoor pool, indoor pool. There's a bowling alley, all kinds of stuff. So interesting. So was this, would you say that it was a plantation? Oh, yeah.

25:31 Plantation house? Yes. Because they had their own crops and they had slaves. Okay. Yeah. 400 of them, just on the island. And it's owned by the state today. And what's the function today? Just parties. It's an event space. So interesting. The South has some interesting, it's not usually adjacent to lighthouse culture or lighthouse stories, these plantations. I saw a couple months ago at this point, one was burned intentionally. Oh, yes. Do you know that story? I don't know what happened. Somebody said it had something to do with people got out of prison. Like escaped prison or something at the, at least the two events coincided. So sure. Like there was speculation that they did it, but it seemed intentional, like a planned, there was fire crews waiting, but not putting it out type of thing. Interesting.

26:24 Like a, like planned demolition by fire. Oh, that, that was my understanding. Okay. But, and there's a different cultural conversation going on about what about these civil war and antebellum and slavery historical. figures and places and statues should we get rid of those we're getting rid of some of them oh like people are arguing that we should not should not have statues of people houses and stuff yeah well or statues of you know southern generals that were in the confederate army oh yeah even though they were americans in a way they lost the war and slavery is bad of course yeah and so we should get rid of those things other people argue that we should keep them Because of recognition of... You have to... The whole point of history is that you learn from past mistakes. It's challenging. And past... Yeah, you don't want to get rid of things just because they're bad. I mean, you can go in... You can go in... People... It's on their bucket list to go and see Auschwitz, you know?

27:19 Auschwitz, yeah. Auschwitz. It's very difficult to pronounce. Oh. I don't know if I can, is what I'm saying. Auschwitz. Auschwitz is what I think, but I... I went to Dachau, which is another one in Germany, outside of Munich. But like nobody's going there. It's not a happy day. It's good. No, it's, it's to learn from history. The point is that you feel terrible. So yes, this does have a really great coffee shop. Oh, at the visitor center. That's interesting. Anyways, I'm, I've dragged us off topic. The point is, it's interesting to me that this is one of those Southern potentially divisive places and it's owned by the state.

28:01 And it's not, it's not a museum. Well, it would be nice if it was a museum, but Reynolds, the guy who had it first, he, I wish I had taken more notes, but see, I was going on a deep dive. There's deep dives all over the place. Yeah. And then I was like, no, no, this is about the lighthouse. So I got to stop. But he did a bunch of like cultural donations and like, he didn't just like buy the house and be like, I'm going to make this like. Sure. The cool party house. This is my sick pad. Yeah. He was doing it for historical reasons and like all tons of donating and a lot of the island now is like environmental research. I saw a wildlife preserve out there it looks like. Yeah. So in the latest state of the house is there still a lighthouse? Yes. The house is unrelated to the lighthouse. It's just that it was built by Spalding and he wanted to have a lighthouse for the naval base. But the lighthouse would have been produced regardless of if he was there, except for that he sold the land for his little token $1. So anyway, I got way deep into this house. I tried not to, and I still did. The Confederates had taken the Fresnelans out of the lighthouse during World War I. Sorry.

29:18 It's basically... I'm cutting that out. During the Civil War. And by the end, the light station was very badly damaged. The lighthouse board did like a big assessment and everything. And they were just like severely damaged by the rebels. Like, yeah, the rebels. Rebels scum. After almost a complete rebuild of the dwelling and adding a new lantern room to the lighthouse, it was relit in 1868. and the range light was rebuilt in wood on a 100 -foot tramway. So as there were changes in the channel, they could move the beacon light slightly. I was like, I would have never considered that that would be something you have to worry about. But I guess shifting sands, it's a tale as old as time. I said that last time, like four times. Tale as old as time. You tell whenever I'm editing that I get annoyed by stuff.

30:20 I'm like, why did I say that so many times? We do though. We get locked. I do it all the time. Get locked into saying the same thing over and over again. It's like a word you pick up and then all of a sudden it just comes to you and we're not, we're not reading a script or anything. So it just happens. I've been saying buddy a lot lately. Really? Bud, buddy. Oh, I haven't noticed. Don't know. Like a lot of work, which, you know, peers of mine. So not like, not like some random guy. Yeah. But buddy. It's like, those are fighting words. Can I help you, pal? Okay, whoa. Let me get back on track. Yes, on the tramway, and this wooden beacon was replaced with an iron one in 1877. 1877, which is what we have today. Let me have a picture. Cool. It's just a cute little, it's just a square room on top of stilts. That's basically it. Looks nice.

31:13 Yeah, and it has a light. Very specifically coming out of one small rectangular window. So when you see this light, you're on track. It's nice. It looks like a really good hunting blind. Yeah, that's kind of what I thought too when I saw it. It looked more like a stand, like a hunting. But those structural supports make it seem very staunch. Solid. Ready for a storm. After the war, after our Civil War, several freed slaves returned to Sapelo Island, creating a settlement on 434 acres of land, which was deeded to them from the Spaldings, which I was trying to remember from history, if like slave owners were forced to give land, give money to slaves, because what would you do? I don't think so. Because what would you do if you just kind of like, they're like, here, you're free. It'd be really scary.

32:06 Well, I think from my very short, in the history of slavery in the United States. I think that what was the period called right after slavery? Emancipation? Antebellum. Oh, oh. The point is there's a lot of problems because just because slaves were free didn't change all of those awful systems that were installed over the years. And all of a sudden being free to go anywhere, like where are you going to live? What are you going to do? You have no money. You have no developed job. You don't have it like, oh, here's my resume. Here's all the stuff I've been doing. Maybe you don't even speak English. Well, you certainly wouldn't have an education. Yeah. A basic education didn't exist for them as far as I know. Anyways, it was very difficult. 400 acres is a good amount of land depending on what it is, how many people, what resources they have. But that is an interesting use of that land, part of the story. Yeah, and the settlement is called Hog Hammock, named after Samson Hog, who cared for the hogs on the plantation.

33:14 Hog Hammock. So, yeah, Hog Hammock is... What do you want? What do you want from me? Keep going. I'm just saying history. It's the last on the island. I'm not continuing until you're done laughing. I didn't even think that was a funny name. One second. You just come looking out the window trying to get it together. All right. This settlement is the last on the island that preserves the Gullah culture and language, which is a rich mixture of African, European, and American customs and dialects. Cool. Never heard of it.

33:58 Yeah, most of the people still living on this island or in this settlement, I think there's 70, last I checked, are descendants from the freed slaves on Sapelo Island. Oh, cool. So it's pretty neat. You can go and it's part of the tours you can take now as it stops in Hog Hammock. Nice. No! So after this, going back to the lighthouse, focus, focus. We had a string of seven keepers, all of which did not stick around for longer than a year. Oh, wow. I don't know what was going on. That's crazy. But James Cromley came in and brought some stability to the position, serving for 16 years until he died. So he didn't even retire. He just passed away on the job. Like a soldier. But that's because he was hired at 74 years old. Oh, my gosh. So he actually lived to 90. So he lived at 90? That's crazy. Like how does this happen? 74, you start this job and you stick around for 16 years. That's a wild boy. And the whole time he was supplementing his pay as a keeper, making shoes for crews of the vessels that would dock nearby. Awesome.

35:13 I know. I wish I had tried to look up pictures of like Cromley shoes or something. I don't think the shoemaking passed down in history, you know, in his family, but like light keeping surely did because. For the rest of this lighthouse's history, the keepers were always Cromleys. Huh. Yeah. They just stuck around. How many of them? Three. Okay. That's impressive. I know. Three generations of Cromleys serving at this lighthouse until it was discontinued. Oh, I noted four of his sons served as assistant keepers and three moved on to be head keeper. Kind of fun. In 1898, we are still not in the 1900s. It's crazy. I love it. 1898. 1898. Burns and McDonald was founded.

35:58 Oh, yeah, you're right. Shout out. Our only sponsor. And it was also the date of the largest hurricane to ever hit Georgia. Oh, no. It landed near Sappalo, and the keeper's dwelling was submerged halfway up the second floor, so that's kind of crazy. Oh, my gosh. Completely gutted it and partially washed it away, so just, like, unhabitable. The keeper and his family survived by taking refuge in the tower, as per... Lots of past stories of hurricanes and lighthouses. Even in modern day, if you can't make it out before a hurricane, go to the light tower. Yeah, you actually would have a pretty good odds surviving in a lighthouse. That's what they're built for. You just keep on going up. You know, as the water rises. I just said the range light is discontinued. That's all I had on the hurricane. Yeah, at the same time, I don't know if it was washed away. No, no, because we still have the same one today.

36:55 So they just turned it off. They're like, we're done with this. I think at this time, there was still a lot of shipping. There was like a dip in shipping because I wish I had taken more notes, but I didn't know how far away I was going from the main focus. And so I just didn't take a lot of notes. But there was some kind of shift in what was being shipped out. of the port of Darien. Different product? Yeah, some big change around this time. Some shortage or some excess or something. So then they removed the range light. The lighthouse board requested $40 ,000 to build a new tower and dwelling further inland because erosion started happening. Erosion, corrosion. This was right after the hurricane, so there was a bunch of damage to everything. So they're like, let's just build a new tower and a new dwelling. 1902, Congress awarded the money and a 52 -foot deep test bore was drilled and deemed satisfactory.

37:51 So something about this 52 feet underground was like, yep, that's good. Precise. 52 feet. That's ridiculous, isn't it? That's a long way. Okay. So I figured that was kind of crazy. They wanted to see what was down there and they got all the layers and they're like, yep, slap the hood. But in November, the beach was washed away so much that the current light station was undermined. Oh, they were wrong. No, no. I mean, the current one, where it is on the beach, was... Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, this is why they were building a new one. So the dwelling at that point was deemed uninhabitable, so they demoed it and used the bricks to prop underneath. The lighthouse. And 20 feet around the existing tower and then covered it in cement. So there was like this hump keeping it from sinking. Yeah, a little big foot to keep it from sinking too far. 1904, contracts were awarded and the new lighthouse was built. So I have a picture. The year that Dodge was founded.

38:58 Oh my gosh. That's interesting. It's so crazy. That that year is something you remember because it's car related. It's fun. Dodge. Car? Yep. Okay. I thought you were like, just to specify, I said Dodge. I'm like, yeah. The Dodge Brothers. I think they were inspired by Ford and the Model T's success. Oh. Decided to make their own car company. Do a little like competitiveness. Anyways. Very cool. They built a 125 -foot steel perimeter lighthouse with two wooden keeper's dwellings on either side, built a few hundred feet north of the existing light. Gorgeous. Yeah. Absolutely gorgeous. It is nice. We like skeleton lighthouses.

39:45 Yeah, how would you describe these keeper's dwellings? Like houses on Cape Cod, or not Cape Cod. They're not like this. Outer Banks. Like where they're on stilts. They're on stilts, but then it's also like... Too much roof is what I'm thinking. That's the vibe. Okay. I'm getting big hats, big hats. It was first lit in September, 1905 with a third order lens. So we went a little bit up in power and had six flashes every 30 seconds with two seconds between each flash. So it was like really quick, quick ish flashes and then like space in between. So kind of special. I haven't seen it anywhere else. Yeah, it's cool. Skeleton Tower served next to the darkened original tower until 1933 when a decline in shipper shipping. I'm going down. We're having a tough time. Decline in shipping rendered it unnecessary. The short tower. No, the short tower was dark since this tower was. Oh, oh. Yeah, and then they were like, we're done. But here's a picture of the close proximity of the two towers. That's cool. Yeah, the stripey one stayed there. They didn't demo it. And it didn't fall over. Apparently, the propping with the bricks was enough to keep the lighthouse from going down. But you can see how close it is to the water's edge. They did a good job deciding to move it back. But apparently,

41:16 it was not necessary. It's crazy. So at that point, they dismantled the steel tower. and shipped it to South Fox Island, which I believe is Lake Michigan or like somewhere in Michigan, where it was lit again and still is to this day. Hey, cool. So it just moved over. And over the following decades, the island was split up by purchases of private owners, the state of Georgia, some environmental agencies for research, like all that just, you know, sold off to little pieces. 1998, the original lighthouse, oil house, and cistern were carefully restored for almost half a million dollars and were relit after almost a century in September of 1998. So we got like new owners and they decided to do a deep restoration.

42:06 I pulled up a picture of before and after. So at that point, all the paint had been worn away. We had lots of rusting, no doors. The oil house had no roof, just brick. Like, really. Not good. Just, I'm surprised it only took half a million dollars to restore this thing. That is really surprising. Surprised by that. And the stairs were wooden in the first, like, normally we see. The structure must have been an outstanding shape. Yeah. When we see spiral stairs, we usually see them iron, and they were wood. I just think that's special. I've never seen wood stairs in any lighthouse, I don't think. Because you would think. they'd be in danger. The picture I pulled up was before they painted them. Now they're painted. I wish they would have just stained them. They look so good. Pretty cool. Nice. Good for them. I know. It's doing everybody else a favor by doing that. So is this a society that has management of the lighthouse? I don't know. Or is there public access, I guess, is the real question?

43:07 Only if you purchase a tour. Because it's on private land. Sure. So who owns Sapello Island Lighthouse? I'm pretty sure it's the state of Georgia. Managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Cool. Oh, approximately 97 % of Sapello Island is owned by the state of Georgia and managed by the DNR. Okay, so the state of Georgia owns it. Yeah. Cool beans. Hog Hammock. Oh, my gosh. 2002, an observation tower was built on the 1905 Tower Foundation, so they just did a little reusing there. I have a picture of that, too. It's nothing pretty. It's just for functionality. Yeah, it's not as... And if you can climb the lighthouse and see from there, then why would you need an observation tower?

44:05 That's the question. 2011. Archaeologists. Archaeologists. Suggest. I don't even know what we're referencing anymore. What is that? Graham Hancock, I believe. Oh, I wouldn't know. From the Netflix show. Let's see if I can think of it later. Okay. Yeah, it's. Oh, what is it? Yeah, I won't be able to remember. Anyway, they unearthed the foundation of the original Keeper's Cottage, which at that point. And since history, the location hadn't been known. Because whenever it was demoed, it just was covered up by sand. And they never had an actual marker for where it had been in the first place. So as time went on, nobody actually knew where the house had once been. Besides looking at photos.

44:56 And even then, it's like, you can't really tell exactly where it is. So it was kind of a big deal. Finding it was under a bunch of sand. And for some reason, they just realized. So they found the footings? The foundation. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Cool. They're like, here lies the house. That is a pretty photo. Isn't that nice? Nice little picture of our current lighthouse with the beautiful coastline of Georgia, which I didn't realize wasn't a beach, but it is sand. You can tell it's sand. Nowadays, you can take a ferry to the island to see all that it has to offer because Sapelo Island's not just the lighthouse. Like, you know, a lot of cases. The lighthouse is the only thing you can see on an island because it's tiny. Yeah. But this one's big enough and has so much rich history that you get to learn about. So you can go and see, they have like, you go to Hog Hammock and you go to like the nature reserve and there's just all kinds of fun things you can see. Be a nice visit. I know.

45:58 There's a, I can't remember what it's called. I think there's several of them, but there's one I found an island in Georgia. Okay. Or South Carolina. I have to take it back now. I think it's South Carolina. Oh. But it's an island. It's a private island. It's all the neighborhoods and golf courses. And it's a golf resort. That's the whole point is it's a resort for like family. It's like all the houses are like Airbnbs. Every single house. There's only golf carts. And then there's like three golf courses, four golf courses. So it's like a vacation type of thing. But all that, it was just a beautiful island with the same type of coastline. That's what I was thinking. This would make a good golf course. Yeah. What is it? Lynx? Lynx style. Yeah. And the best part is that Sapelo Island Lighthouse is the second oldest brick lighthouse in the United States.

46:47 Really? Yes. Because if you think about it, it's 1819. Yeah, yeah. I think it's 1820. 18. It was first lit, so pretty old. Do we know the oldest offhand? No. I can research. Oldest brick lighthouse in the United States. Answer is Sandy Hook Lighthouse. Oh, yeah. We know Sandy Hook. Yeah. We were so close to that. Wait. I'm thinking Sandy Neck. That's Cape Cod, which we didn't go see. Yep. Unfortunate. Drove right by. Silly geese. We were seeing too many other lighthouses. Anyway, I read that you can only get to the lighthouse by ferry, but I also saw that Reynolds back in the 50s built a vehicle slash pedestrian walkway to the island just to make it easier to get back and forth. And so I'm wondering if that's gone now or if it's only if you live there. I bet you it's gone. Okay. It was probably sketchy.

47:51 In the 1950s? Yeah. It's gone. Okay. Oh. There's no way. That's too bad. I'd be shocked. Yeah. I guess if the ferry is the only way to climb the lighthouse, it's probably that there's not a lot of access out there. So to climb, you have to book a Sappalo Island tour online, which takes you on a ferry and shows you all parts of the island. Lots of cool history. Stop at Hog Hammock, which they said there's only one general store so that you go in and you just get like a snack. Yeah. I'm sure there's souvenirs. Yeah. Oh, I bet so. And a lighthouse climb. which is the only way that you get to. That sounds nice. Yeah, they really, really zeroed in on the market there. The only way you can climb is if you book this whole day tour. I'm like, oh, no, it kind of makes it hard. That is Sappalo Island Lighthouse.

48:41 Great. Thank you. That was really nice. Episode 83. Lots of cool history. I like it whenever we get to focus more on other things, but also have something to do with the lighthouse. Yeah, I'm sorry. I've wandered a little bit. No, no, it's good. I'm real tired and all that. It's a fun part of our podcast is that we wander and not all who wander are lost. True. Anything else you want to add? I really don't have anything. What was that show? Oh, no. Oh, Netflix show. Graham. Ancient Civilizations. Really? Yeah. Is there another one? I did just kind of... I don't think that's right. No, no, it's got to be. I think there's two, potentially. No, it's Ancient Apocalypse. Ancient Apocalypse. Let's go, memory. I got Ancient. I couldn't get it, but I knew it was not that one. You know what happened is I put Netflix show, and then I produced Ancient from my head. So I typed Ancient, and it said Civilizations. So then I was like, that's it. So we're talking about this show. We watched it. We just... this character gets more and more unbelievable. Well, he's a guy. He's not a character.

49:58 He's apparently been ostracized from the archeological community. He disagrees with many theories of how things were. Yeah, and he has a chip on his shoulder about it. And an accent, which for us simple folk is really fun. Anytime he mentions what's widely accepted, he says, archaeologists suggest. Yeah, he never gives them any like, They have founded, they say, they've proven. Archaeologists suggest 17 million years is long enough to erode this hill. How could they possibly have said that? However, recent research. Yet his claims get more and more outlandish as he goes along. In the first few episodes, we're like, this is cool. We were in. Yeah, of course.

50:44 The last episode, it took us so long to watch it because we just knew it was going to be. like the epitome of the downfall that we had seen. This is just our own personal opinion. It's all opinion, yeah. Entertainment only. Absolutely watch it. Chime in in the comments. Yeah, let us know. If you're Graham Hancock. Let us know. Thumbs up if you liked Ancient Apocalypse. We're going to be like, lighthouse enthusiast. Okay, well that's all I got. That was really nice. I appreciate it. your work thanks and i look forward to the next episode which is mine right no i have one more okay yours yeah episode 84 will be mine and then you'll be coming in 85 very exciting you'll get to use that history that you prepped a while ago that's right so yeah everyone check out our website thelighthouselowdown .com where you can leave us a review or you can check out our youtube videos or just listen to our podcast we love all of our listeners and we thank you for being here And we hope that you catch us next time on The Lighthouse. Go down.