About Tybee
Island, Georgia...
- Officially
renamed "Savannah Beach" in a publicity move at the
end of the 1950s, the city of Tybee Island has since reverted
to its original name. The small island, which has long been a
quiet getaway for the residents of Savannah, has become a popular
vacation spot with tourists from outside the Savannah metropolitan
area. Tybee Island was originally inhabited
by the Euchee Native American tribe and gave the island its name:
tybee is a Euchee word for salt. Later, in the 1500s the Spanish
laid claim to the island and named it Los Bajos. During that
time the island was frequented by pirates who used the island
to hide from those who pursued them. Pirates later used the island’s
inland waterways for a fresh water source. As Spain gave up its
claim to the island, and the surrounding areas stretching down
to modern day Florida, English and French settlements sprang
up around the area. In 1733 English settlers led by James Oglethorpe
settled on Tybee Island before moving on to settle eventually
in Savannah. In 1736 John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church,
arrived on Tybee Island. The Tybee Island lighthouse was built
in the year 1736. The lighthouse was of brick and wood, standing
90 feet tall; it was the highest structure in America at that time.
Five years later the lighthouse was destroyed by a storm.
In 1742 a second lighthouse was finished; this version reached
94 feet into the air. In 1773 a third lighthouse was constructed
which was also destroyed, this time in 1862 by Confederate troops
from nearby Fort Pulaski. Of the 100 feet of the third lighthouse
only 60 feet remained which served as a rebuilding point for a
fourth lighthouse.
In 1869 it was decided that the lighthouse must be protected from
ever increasing tides and gale force winds so it was moved 164
feet back from the shoreline. In the years from 1871 and 1886 the
walls of the lighthouse became cracked by storm forces and later
the light lens was broken by the Charleston earthquake of 1886.
The latest incarnation of the Tybee Island lighthouse stands at
154 feet and in 1933 became an electrically driven lighthouse.
Due to the fact that modern marine navigation techniques outgrew
the need for such a lighthouse the Tybee Island lighthouse became
obsolete. *Information
provided by www.wikipedia.org |
