Morris Island Lighthouse Work to Start
By Sue Clark on Jul 23, 2007 in Restoration 
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According to the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, work to stabilize the badly eroded Morris Island Lighthouse has begun. A barge has been placed next to the lighthouse to allow for the completion of a coffer dam, which will allow for the blocking of seawater from the base of the lighthouse, and enable it to be stabilized with cement and the base to be capped.
The preservation effort was funded by a $500,000 grant from the state, federal funding and local cities, especially the nearby Folly Beach.
Morris Island Lighthouse was deactivated in 1968, and was sold. Save the Light, an organization formed to purchase the light from a previous owner in 1999 serves as the stewards. The light was donated to the state in 2000.
The Army Corps of Engineers will be overseeing the stabilization project.
“This is one of the more complicated preservation efforts,” Dr. Richard Beck, Chariman of Save the Light, states. Erosion has claimed the site of the lighthouse, and the structure is now in an inlet between Morris and Folly islands.
Getting the project to the starting point has been a challenge for its advocates. But as Dr. Beck says, “It’s not a conversation piece any more, it’s happening.”
According to the Save the Light’s website, the organization has raised more than $4,500,000 in total over eight years for this project.
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