Old Harbor Light
Old Harbor Light
Old Harbor Light
Old Harbor Light
Savannah, GA 31401
The Old Harbor Light was erected by the United States Lighthouse Board to guide ships into the Savannah Harbor and avoid the hulls of sunken ships in the channel. The British had sunk these ships in 1779 to prevent the French and American ships from entering Savannah during the Revolutionary War.
In October 1855, J.F. Gilmer, Captain of Engineers, sent the following to the Lighthouse Board recommending the erection of "a harbor beacon on 'the bay,' city of Savannah, as an aid to vessels approaching the city at night."
The light was to have a cast iron shaft with a lantern similar to the street lanterns of a city, but much larger, and with red lights. The beacon's gas light shone from a focal plane of seventy-seven feet as an aid to ships entering Savannah's harbor
Due to a change in the channel leading from Fig Island to Savannah, Congress appropriated $3,000 on March 3, 1879 to change the location of the light on Fig Island and to establish a companion light on the tower of the Exchange Building in Savannah. On December 1, 1880, a light was activated in the cupola of the Exchange Building to serve as the rear light of Fig Island Range.
Known today as the Old Harbor Light, the ornamented cast-iron shaft is now flanked by several large ship anchors and stands in Emmet Park overlooking the Savannah River.
