Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2016

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built that the beacon was to primarily assist the Mount
Pleasant steamers going at night through Hog Island
Channel. The Charleston Mercury reported that it would
be “a beautiful wooden structure in the Italian style of
architecture.” The
federal govern-
ment spared no
expense with this
project, spend-
ing $2,265 for
its construction.
Specifications for
both the light
and the keeper’s
dwelling were
written by the
U.S. Lighthouse
Board.
Board and
batten siding, a
vertical pattern
using planks of
varying widths,
was used to give
the house the
unique appearance similar to other such structures. The
absence of windows on the gabled ends of the house
ensured stability from storms. Mortise-and-tenon joint
construction, an age-old tongue-and-groove technique,
also helped with the lighthouse’s structural integrity.
Local historian Robert Stockton, who has researched
the property, discovered that the lighthouse was a fixed
light – rather than a revolving one – and visible for 10
miles when lit, but its light was intended for use mostly
within the harbor. All the lighthouses in Charleston
were extinguished by Confederates during the Civil War
to deter Union
ships from enter-
ing the harbor.
Although the
Mount Pleasant
tower survived
the war, the light
was never reacti-
vated. Stockton
surmised that it
was later heavily
damaged by a se-
ries of devastating
hurricanes since it
was subsequently
removed. The
keeper’s house,
however, remains
intact.
After World
War II, the fed-
eral government decommissioned many of its military
holdings in the Charleston area and sold the property.
There have been eight homeowners since then, includ-
ing the grandparents of prominent attorney and pres-
ervationist Gedney Howe III, and local physician Dr.
Archibald J. Buist Jr. Tim Scrantom and Leigh Owen
Wilkes bought the property three years ago and have
A doorway once led directly from the house to the 44-foot-high lighthouse tower.
Photo by Mary Coy.
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