Photo-of-the-Week #111 - The Hunting Island Lighthouse, Hunting Island, South Carolina, February 2013

The historic Hunting Island Lighthouse is a beautiful example of an historic lighthouse. The lighthouse dates back to 1859, was burned during the Civil War and rebuilt in 1873. It's located on one of the South Carolina barrier islands known as Hunting Island. The entire island including the lighthouse is a state park. Hunting Island is near St. Helena Island, Camp Lejeune Marine Post

and Beaufort, South Carolina.

This is the only lighthouse open to the public. It's a pretty good climb to the top at 132 feet above the ocean and beach, 167 steps up a spiral staircase to be specific. Another interesting fact about this lighthouse is that it was built in modular sections. It can be assembled and then disassembled and moved and reassembled. In fact, this lighthouse was moved 1 1/4 miles from it's original location to it's present location in 1889. It was in service until 1933 when it was decommissioned.

The view from the top is awesome. I have some terrific photos from the top. Yes! I climbed everyone of those 167 steps. It wasn't as bad a climb as I thought it would be. However, I wouldn't have wanted to carry a large pale of oil to fuel the light and keep it burning as the lighthouse keepers had to do everyday. I'll be posting some of the other photos in the future.