TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | AUG 2018 31
Historic Preservation
on Tybee Island
By Kathy Dennis, Historic Preservation Commission member
Did you know? The Historic Preservation Commission meets the third
Monday of each month and its meetings are open to the public. During
the National Historic Preservation month of May, the commission erected
a new historic preservation billboard on the left side of Hwy.80! Posters,
note cards and postcards with the design will be coming soon.
Did you know? We all know the Tybee Island Light Station is special, but did
you know they are continuing to pursue National Landmark designation?
It is a long process, but Sarah Jones, Executive Director of the Historical
Society and Robert Ciucevich, Quatrefoil Historic Preservation Consulting
and their teams are updating the application process.
What makes our Light Station so worthy of this designation?
a command headquarters and garrison during the planning and execution
of a major Civil War battle.
patterned after the octagonal light tower at Sandy Hook, NJ, which is the
only completely intact colonial light tower remaining in the U.S. Tybee’s
tower is the only other-albeit partially, extant colonial light.
early federal period. At 154 feet tall, the Tybee Light is the tallest octagonal
light tower in the U.S.
of ten surviving Victorian Stick Style keeper’s dwellings built at light
stations along the south Atlantic coast between 1876 and 1907. Of the
ten surviving dwellings, Tybee’s are the best and most intact examples
remaining and are the ONLY examples located within its original, intact
light station setting.
Tybee Lighthouse circa 1870
Thanks to Robert Ciucevich and Sarah Jones for their work on this article.
Next month the focus will be on the 100th anniversary commemoration of
the sinking of the HMS Otrantro. Many of those lost at sea included men
who trained at Ft. Screven. The ceremony will be held September 15 at
the museum.