Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum, Lighthouse and museum in Tybee Island, United States
Tybee Island Light is an octagonal brick tower painted black with a broad white band at its center, standing 44 m (154 ft) tall beside a one-story utility building. The present tower is the fourth at this station, built in 1866 atop the lower 60 ft of the 1773 brick tower. Its fixed white light, at a focal height of 44 m, has a range of 16 nautical miles. The 1881 head keeper's dwelling now serves as a museum.
The structure was built in 1736 when James Edward Oglethorpe ordered the first wooden tower at this strategic location. Over time it was rebuilt and updated several times to better guide ships approaching the coast.
The 1881 head keeper's dwelling now serves as a museum, restored by the Tybee Island Historical Society, which took over the station in 2002. The site keeps three keeper's houses and auxiliary buildings alongside the tower. The tower's black-white-black daymark, repainted during the 1999 restoration, follows the pattern used from 1916 to 1966.
The tower stands at the north end of Tybee Island, where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic. The site keeps its keeper's houses and auxiliary buildings alongside the tower, and the 1881 head keeper's house is restored and set up as a museum. The light remains an active navigational aid.
The beacon at the top houses a large Fresnel lens that can warn ships from far away at sea. This optical system was a key technology that made safe ocean navigation possible in the 1800s.
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