A Shining Light Upon A Hill

Etching of Old Harbor Light by Elizabeth O'Neill Verner

​As I have mentioned before, just as there are things in our homes we cling to even when they have passed their time of usefulness, our city has things they cannot rid themselves. One of these is the Old Harbor Light. It was once a beacon of light standing on the cliff above the harbor.

 In its day it served to guide ships coming into the port at Savannah away from several vessels sunk in the river channel by the British during the Revolutionary War. The British scuttled these ships in 1779 to close the harbor to the French naval forces.  The light itself was constructed on Savannah’s eastern bay in 1858 as a rear range light. It stood 77 feet above the river level and was illuminated by gas. In the late 1860s the channels through the river changed and the Old Harbor Light was declared unnecessary. There it sat for many years suffering the ravages of time. In 1869 the light was moved a few feet south because it was in the way. The light was refurbished in 1929. It received its current moniker of Old Harbor Light by a mistaken reporter who called it such in an article he wrote in the 1930s about Savannah. The moniker stuck and is still called that by the locals.

 It was turned off during World War II. It was turned off because it was thought it might enable German U-boats and airplanes to better see the harbor and enable them to commit their misdeeds. During WW II the whole of River Street was unlit during the night to help conceal the making of the Liberty Ships. The light was never turned back on after the war.

Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, a Charleston Renaissance Painter, did an etching and painting of the Old Harbor Light which was printed in the Savannah Morning News in the sixties. But through the years despite its decay its presence was never forgotten. Then in 2000 with contributions of $125,000 from the Savannah Morning News and CSX Corporation it was taken down. The rust was removed, repairs were made, it was repainted, and the light was cleaned. It was re-erected and relit on January 11, 2001. Today it sits on the east bluff end of Emmett Park. By its side are discarded old anchors and plantings by a local garden club. It sits in what has become a peaceful corner in our city.
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It stands as a beacon of light to remind us of the old times here are not forgotten. It shows we treasure the old as much as we love the new. 

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