Bank Bailout: Helping a Lighthouse
By Sue Clark on Nov 13, 2008 in News 
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Morris Island Lighthouse To Benefit
At last some nice news from the Banking Industry. Well, at least for lighthouse preservationists anyway. (James Island, SC) Branch Bank & Trust, which used to operate the sole island bank out of a grocery store, has built a new office to serve its customers. At the grand opening last week, the bank gave $500 to Save the Light, Inc., and pledged as much as $10,000 or more to help in phase two of the Morris Island Lighthouse restoration. Morris Island Lighthouse has been ravaged by waves and shipworms over the years and risked sinking into the Atlantic until Save the Light Inc. stepped up to save the tower, shown at left as it looked in 2006 before work began on the base.
In the story at Charleston.Net, BB&T Assistant Vice President Ryan J. Benton said the BB&T branch on Folly Road will donate $100 to Save the Light for every new business investors or investors deposit account opened and $25 for every personal or business checking account opened. Al Hitchcock, chairman of Save the Light Inc., noted that the banking firm got its start in 1872, the same year construction on the Morris Island lighthouse was begun. “How fitting,” Hitchcock said, “that the James Island BB&T branch is now helping to raise funds needed to restore the endangered 158-foot-tall lighthouse.”
Phase One Work Completed
The first part of the work was completed this past Spring, with the erection of a twelve foot high cofferdam around the lighthouse base. This cofferdam is helping to reduce the effect of the wave action on the tower. When it was originally built, the tower was one quarter mile away from the ocean. With the scouring erosion of the land, it is now sitting one quarter mile inside the ocean, away from the land. Even at low tide the waves were continuing to erode the base. Photo of the tower with the newly installed protection is below.
Phase Two Can Now Begin
In phase two, steel pilings will be drilled below the lighthouse to shore up the original 264 old wooden pilings that are being eaten away by shipworms. New pilings and injections of hydraulic concrete under the lighthouse base should stop it from leaning, according to Hitchcock.
The light was purchased by Save the Light from a previous owner in 1999 and gave it to the state. The light was decommissioned in 1962. Yet it still remains as a symbol of Charleston.
James Island Mayor Mary Clark it’s wonderful that BB&T is helping with lighthouse restoration. “The lighthouse has been one of my favorite spots since I came to Folly Beach 66 years ago,” she said. “It’s a wonderful asset we all enjoy.”
Folly Beach Mayor Carl Beckmann Jr. said that losing the lighthouse would mean losing a well-known symbol of the Lowcountry. “Any time you are looking at any pictures of Charleston, you are going to see a picture of the Morris Island lighthouse. Every time,” Beckmann said.
The BB&T has a mission statement calling for it to do more than just business in a community. And the lighthouse came quickly to mind Benton said. This certainly is one type of bank bailout we can all appreciate.
Photo Credits:
- Morris Island Lighthouse 2006 by Mary. Some rights reserved.
- Morris Island Lighthouse 2008 by Dremmett Brown. Some rights reserved.
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