Tybee Light Station Complex
The Tybee Island Historical Society has completed the Light Station complex. It took about $2 million dollars, four major construction projects and 14 years to finish the 10-year plan. Mr. Cullen Chambers, the Society’s executive director, was in charge of the restoration and has earned plaudits and awards from such organizations as the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and most recently the Historic Savannah Foundation. The Lighthouse complex is one of only 20 or so in the nation that still has all its support buildings.
“About 45% of the walls are new in the 2nd Assistant Keeper’s Cottage,” said Mr. Chambers, pointing at the distinctive heart-pine headboard walls of the cottage, “and the wood doesn’t reflect any sort of luxurious existence for the occupants–rather one of the harsh realities of life on that part of Tybee Island.” He added that when they fired the big guns across the street at one of Ft. Screven’s batteries, the concussion shook the house so badly that it destroyed the plaster. All of that has been renewed in the 3-year, $450,000 dollar project.
The completed project greatly enhances the historic significance of the light station and will provide visitors with a better understanding of the varied quality of living conditions for the different levels of responsibilities associated with the three different ranks of keepers assigned to the Light Station.
The Assistant Keeper’s Cottage will serve as lecture hall, art gallery and audio-visual space for the complex.
In the last three years, Tybee Island has had a presence on three consecutive lists of “10 Places in Peril” as the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the plights of the island’s circa-1930 beach cottages, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse and Battery Backus. Mr. Chambers will turn his attention to saving and restoring those sites, now that the Complex is finished. For more information about the Lighthouse, click here: Lighthouse.
