Fort Sumter Range Lights

Infobox_Lighthouse
name = Fort Sumter Range Lights


caption = The lighthouse on Fort Sumter
location = Charleston Harbor
coordinates = coord|32|45|8|N|79|52|29|W|display=inline (Fort Sumter) coord|32|46|45|N|79|55|45|W|display=inline (St. Philips)
yearbuilt = 1855 (Fort Sumter)
1893 (St. Philip's)
yearlit =
automated = 1950 (Fort Sumter)
yeardeactivated = 1915 (St. Philip's)
early 1950s (Fort Sumter)
foundation =
construction =
shape = Hexagonal tower (Fort Sumter)
Skeletal tower (Fort Sumter after 1893)
Pyramidal church steeple (St. Philip's)
marking =
height = convert|51|ft (Fort Sumter)
convert|140|ft (St. Philip's)
elevation =
lens = 5th order Fresnel lens (Fort Sumter)
White lantern (St. Philip's)
currentlens =
intensity =
range =
characteristic =
fogsignal = Bell (Fort Sumter)
admiralty =
NGA =
ARLHS = [http://wlol.arlhs.com/lighthouse/USA1163.html USA-1163]

The Fort Sumter Range Lights are range lights to guide ships through the main channel of the Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The original front light was built at Fort Sumter and the original rear light was in the steeple of St. Philip's Church in Charleston, South Carolina.Clary, Margie Willis, "The Beacons of South Carolina", Sandlapper Publishing Co., Inc., Orangeburg, SC, 2005, pp. 107-108, ISBN 0-87844-176-X.] cite web|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHSC.asp|title=Fort Sumter Range Lights|access date=2008-08-10|work=Historic Light Station Information & Photography: South Carolina|publisher=US Coast Guard] Both lights were lit from 1893 to 1915 to make range lights. Today the Fort Sumter Range is the main approach channel to Charleston Harbor.cite web|url=http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pubs/LightLists/V3COMPLETE.pdf|title=Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Volume III|access date=2008-08-14 |work=Light List|publisher=US Coast Guard]

Fort Sumter, which was the site of the first battle of the Civil Warcite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/fosu/|title=Fort Sumter National Monument|access date=2008-08-10|work=|publisher=US National Park Service] , is now a National Monument. St. Philip's is a National Historic Landmark that was built in 1836.cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1383&ResourceType=Building|title=St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Charleston)|access date=2008-08-10|work=National Historic Landmarks Program|publisher=US National Park Service] Putnam, George R., "Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States", Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, 1917, pp. 99, ISBN 0-87844-176-X.]

History

The front light at Fort Sumter completed in 1857.U.S. Senate, "Executive Documents of the Senate of the United States: Third Session Thirty-Fourth Congress", A.O.P. Nicholson, Printer, Washington, DC, 1857, p. 600.] The front light was a white, fifth order Fresnel lens. The station was destroyed during the Civil War. A temporary light with a steamer lens was in place after the war ended and Fort Sumter was reoccuppied by federal troops.Secretary of the Treasury, "Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year 1865", Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1865, p. 196.] Later the light was rebuilt. With little chance of war, this lighthouse was the major activity at Fort Sumter from 1876 to 1898.Barnes, Frank , "Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina", National Park Service. Historical handbook series, no. 12, Washington, DC, 1962.]

In 1893, the front light was destroyed by a hurricane. The tower was replaced with a light green metal skeletal tower. The fog signal was a bell mechanically struck with a double blow every 15 s. After the rear light was extinguished in 1915, a radio beacon was added. The radio beacon was moved to Sullivan's Island lifesaving station in 1950. The light was deactivated in the early 1950s.The rear range light was a white lantern in the steeple of St. Philip's Church in Charleston that was lit in 1893. The height of the lantern was convert|140|ft|m|0. The "Annual Report of the Light-House Board" reported that the electric apparatus for lighting the gas burner in the locomotive headlight was repaired in 1901.U.S. Light-House Board, "Annual Report of the Light-House Board Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1901.", Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1901, p. 123.] This light was removed in 1915.

Today

The Fort Sumter Range is currently the main approach channel to the Charleston Harbor.cite web|url=http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11521.shtml|author=NOAA|title=Chart 11521: Charleston Harbor and Approaches|access date=2008-08-13|work=|publisher=Office of Coast Survey, Silver Spring, MD] cite web|url=http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11523.shtml|author=NOAA|title=Chart 11523: Charleston Harbor Entrance|access date=2008-08-13|work=|publisher=Office of Coast Survey, Silver Spring, MD] cite web|url=http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11524.shtml|author=NOAA|title=Chart 11524: Charleston Harbor|access date=2008-08-13|work=|publisher=Office of Coast Survey, Silver Spring, MD] Its front light is near Fort Sumter and its rear light is a lighted tower near the site of the old Fort Ripley Shoal Light.

References