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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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