HUNTING ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
Sharing the Light
story and photos courtesy of LINDA MILLER, FOHI
The Hunting Island Lighthouse is the iconic structure and the centerpiece of Hunting Island State Park, the most visited park in the South Carolina State Park System.
After closing the tours in early 2022 due to safety concerns, structural repairs and restoration work at the Hunting Island Lighthouse have started. Over the past two years, the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism has worked to secure funding and follow the state procurement process to select architects and restoration experts to manage this unique and specialized project. Bennett Preservation Engineering is overseeing architecture and engineering, and Huss, Inc is the project contractor. Their work requires extraordinary care to protect the historic millwork, structural wood, masonry, glass, ironwork, and distinctive decorative finishes. Much of their focus will be on stabilizing and strengthening the stair system; repairing, cleaning, and recoating the metal and iron elements of the structure; and repainting the interior and exterior of the lighthouse. Visitors to Hunting Island will notice construction fencing and signage as crews begin working on interior repairs to the bracing, masonry, and coatings. Exterior work is expected to begin after the hurricane season. Barring any construction, weather, or supply delays, work is expected to be complete in late 2025, at which point a timeline for reopening to public tours will be determined.
Virtual Reality headsets are available in the park’s Visitor Center that simulate the climb to the top of the lighthouse and the sweeping views of the park and Atlantic Ocean from the watch deck.
Currently displayed in the base of the lighthouse is an 1875 Fresnel Lens of the largest 1st Order size. The lens was received by the State of South Carolina from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1962 and has been on display in the lighthouse since. Although missing some parts over the years, it continues to be a centerpiece of the lighthouse experience for visitors to the park.
The lens was originally installed in the Charleston Lighthouse on Morris Island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. In 1938, the lens was removed and stored at the Bureau of Lighthouses Lighthouse Depot in Charleston. The lighthouse was downgraded due to the erosion of Morris Island, so the island could no longer support a lighthouse keeper staff. The lighthouse was now automated with a smaller light requiring no keeper staff. When the U.S. Coast Guard assumed responsibility for all U.S. lighthouses in 1939, the lens passed to the Coast Guard along with the Charleston Depot. In 1962, the State of South Carolina acquired the lens from the U.S. Coast Guard and placed it on display in the base of the Hunting Island Lighthouse.
In preparation for the Lighthouse restoration, the lens was disassembled last October and has been in storage awaiting completion of an updated design which was completed in May 2024 by Artworks Florida and Dan Spinella. The design specifications use modern materials (marine-grade stainless steel) that will greatly reduce or eliminate the need for maintenance to ensure quality of sustainability to the weather elements.
In September, 2025 Friends of Hunting Island hired local artisans Pender Brothers of Port Royal to begin the construction phase of the newly designed frame. With a new support frame and a new exhibit building to put the lens in, the reassembly of the lens is in the final staging process. We have completed this delicate process and have stored all the artifact pieces for assembly after the next critical phase will be completed.
Today, the final phase of the Hunting Island lens project has begun, and its location for the Lens Display has been finalized. A piece of land on the Lighthouse Complex at Hunting Island has been approved by South Carolina State Park and the archeaologist historians in Columbia.
The design of the housing unit for the Fresnel Lens has begun, and we are excited to put all of the elements together for a wonderful new display that will sit prominently on the Lighthouse Complex and be ADA accessible for all our visitors to see.
Hunting Island State Park, Friends of Hunting Island, and we are thrilled to showcase it later this year at the Lighthouse Complex for the grand reopening of the Hunting Island Lighthouse.
UP HERE
Everything that the public loves about a lighthouse is exquisitely portrayed in Up Here: The Hunting Island Lighthouse and its Lightkeepers. This volume invites the reader on a journey of the mind and heart – one that entwines the past and present to tell a one-of-a-kind story sure to delight even the most casual reader.
Up Here: The Hunting Island Lighthouse and its Lightkeepers is a grand story about the life-changing power of light, historic engineering genius that endures, the benevolent service of lightkeepers and their families, and a sparkling natural environment teeming with precious wildlife.
Authors Theodore Panayotoff and Linda Miller have crafted the Hunting Island story in masterful fashion while the stunning imagery throughout the book lends its own sense of wonderment to the volume. From a beckoning lighthouse to faithful guardians and precious shorebirds to an island’s glistening sands of time, Up Here: The Hunting Island Lighthouse and its Lightkeepers is a must-have. –Bob Trapani, Jr., Executive Director, American Lighthouse Foundation
Book purchases benefit the Friends of Hunting Island and support the organization’s work at Hunting Island, to include the current restoration of the 1875 Fresnel Lens.
