Lighthouses seem to be almost universally fascinating to people, and I'm interested in all ATONs (Aids to Navigation) which includes lighthouses, light ships, ranges, spiders, floating buoys, and even day marks.

And I'm OK with people using lighthouses to decorate their lawn, or to hold their mailboxes or to decorate the tables in restaurants. They make great signposts too.

But it really irritates the heck out of me when people put up a signpost lighthouse and try to pretend that it is a real ATON. The one that I hate the most is the Harbour Town one on Hilton Head.

There are no shoals to be warned about. The Coast Guard doesn't’maintain it and officially it’s not a lighthouse at all although it does have a beacon inside. It does guide boats in from the waterway on the mainland side of the island but the intentions of this lighthouse are to create an aid to commerce rather than an aid to navigation. It’s basically a tourist attraction that works as a three dimensional sign and symbol in the shape of a lighthouse promoting Hilton Head.

Other businesses are not allowed to have large promotional signs and I think it unfair that this marina complex is allowed to have this big honking lighthouse/sign.

I've just seen that someone has a very nice picture of the fake lighthouse at the entrance to Lighthousekeeper's Marina complex (Coquina Harbour). I have a couple of pictures too, taken at first light when we passed the entrance on our way to Bald Head.





Apparently this was built by the developer of the area as a landmark for visitors. It never ever occured to me that this was a 'real' lighthouse.

Am I being too intolerant?

Yes, I think you are. Lighthouses also mark the entrance to a river or harbour and Hilton Head does mark the harbour. I rented a boat trying to find Bloody Point Lighthouse (a real one) and as I was making my way back, I spotted Hilton Head so I knew where I was right away (I was thinking of going back the way I came). This was during the day, so it was a day mark at that point, but at night it would have been a greater help. And yes it did help sell houses in the beginning. But it also got people interested in lighthouses that may have not been otherwise. In fact my first Harbour Lights came from a Hilton Head gift shop (Jupiter). I put down Hilton Head Lighthouse as a private lighthouse/aid to navigation and if the government was still building them, the group in Hilton Head may have gotten the government to pay for it.

I'm afraid you haven't convinced me. I do not think that any structure with a gift shop in the top can be a real lighthouse.

Yes, lighthouses mark entrances to harbors, but Harbour Town (in spite of the name) is NOT a harbor. It's just a marina, and a **** expensive one and snooty one at that.

There is a real lighthouse (actually half of a range) on Hilton Head, with a legend and a ghost and there's another lighthouse on Daufuskie Island right 'next door'.

[And another travesty is the story that they try to tell tourists is the origin of Daufuskie which is absolutely complete and total fiction - I'm talking about 'the first key' one.]

Any kind of structure which is visible from a distance (a church for instance, or a white house on shore) can serve as a marker from the water. Of course in Hilton Head, you couldn't HAVE a white house on shore.

We've been to Hilton Head twice. Once by boat and once by car. The boat trip wasn't so bad, but the car trip was a real downer - Bob hated it and I wasn't impressed.

One of the reasons that we didn't like it is we really are against the idea and implimentation of covenants, which Hilton Head takes to extremes. I think it is a bad and ultimately unfair way to 'protect' property values.

If business can't have anything but small unobtrusive signs, then the marina should be required to also have nothing more than a small unobtrustive sign. I mean we heard that the Red Roof in couldn't even have a red roof because it was against the rules.

The one at Lighthouse Keeper's Marina seems to have been built as a memorial, and it doesn't serve any type of lighthouse function as far as I could see. You can't get far enough from it to have it serve as any kind of marker. It doesn't mark the entrance to the Little River inlet.

Like it or not, this lighthouse is an aid to navigation. Opinions do not change that.

Doesn't even matter that it is only a private aid to navigation.

On April 25, 2005, Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina became a PRIVATE aid to navigation. Don't know about you, but I certainly still consider BILH a lighthouse. It also has a gift shop.

So the pretty little light at Sea Pines involves commerialism. So what? Many lighthouses have gift shops attached. This particular lighthouse donates annually from its proceeds not only locally but sends healthy sums to several of the larger lighthouse societies in the United States for the purpose of lighthouse preservation, yearly.

Hilton Head is not an inexpensive place to vacation, and it would be difficult to find "bargain meals" at any restaurant there. Sure there are covenants. If one doesn't like the particular covenants in place, they can choose not to be property owners. Covenants are found in practically every neighborhood in the US to some degree and are put in place by the developer to protect the integrity of the neighborhood. When it is a planned urban development (PUD)- anywhere in the US, you will find covenants to the ultimate degree, such as requiring all mailboxes to be identical, of the same height, and a set distance from the dwelling.

One can choose to visit or live on Hilton Head, or not.

I've visited there many times, and I enjoy visiting and photographing this pretty little lighthouse. My choice.

I'll have to also disagree with you on this- for various reasons.

I do agree that the rules on Hilton Head Island are truly restrictive but if these bother you there is always the option to not go there or buy property there. I've been there twice- the most recent trip this past March.

I don't have a problem with "faux" lighthouses or private aids to navigation- which Harbour Town Light is both - as long as they are identified as such somewhere.

I've also been to many a "real" lighthouse that has a gift shop in the lighthouse itself- albiet not at the top but very often at the bottom.

The final reason I think , personally, that your position is a bit too stringent is that while I had visited at least 5 lighthouses in Maine prior to my first trip to Hilton Head in March 1999 it was that visit and viewing and climbing the Harbor town Light that got me interested in Harbour Lights and then into the real thing. I've visited apoximately 250 lighthouses so far (including about 20-25 on my european cruise) since then and am active in several Lighthouse Societies as a contributor and a volunteer.

I'm not saying that this might not have happened eventually but the imputes was my visit to a fake lighthouse. I'm sure that others have gotten started visitng this fake ligthhouse or another one.

Bottom line- anything that raises the interst of people is ultimately good for all lighthouses.

I am of the opinion that particularrly in discussions with people not well versed in lighthousing the term lighthouse is used very loosely. I always try and explain what makes it a lighthouse a lighthouse and what makes it an aid to navigation. I try not to get too technical and most people can understand the difference but often using the term lighthouse is just easier for them.

I like to keep it light and have some fun along the way.

Of course this is just my personal opinion and it's no more right opr wrong than your's- just a bit different.

Dennis

I'm sorry to disagree, but Harbour Town is NOT an ATON and never has been. It is not recognized by the CG as anything more than a private marker which has some height to it so that it can be used as a landmark. They also have silos, tanks, churches, cell towers, and houses listed on the charts as landmarks. That doesn't make them lighthouses or former lighthouses.

The fact that some lighthouses (like Bald Head for instance) are now private doesn't have anything to do with it. Originally Bald Head (and Bodie Island, and Seven Foot Knoll and many other lighthouses) was built to warn of some hazard. There's no hazard to be warned of at Harbour Town. No reefs. No shoals. No difficult harbor entrance.

Of course many lighthouses have gift shops. But I bet none of them were built AS a gift shop like Harbour Town was.

I don't agree with and would never buy a house in a development which has covenants. I don't think they are fair or just. It makes me angry to think that we could not park a pick-up in front of the house like is the case in some places in Gaithersburg. We've always asked about that before we would put in a bid. One of my children lived in such a community, and I don't quite understand how she can stand it, but that seems to be something that she's willing to put up with although I don't think in her case that pick-up trucks are banned. I also wouldn't like people telling me that I couldn't have a vegetable garden.

We went to Outdoor Resorts Marina on our first trip down the ICW and it was nice, but we were aground at low tide and had to wait for the tide to rise in order to leave. We would never have gone to Harbour Town because it is way too expensive.

We visited Hilton Head (by car) because so many people seemed to like it. We got a good deal on a condo ($269 for the week off season). It was a convenient location to visit Savannah and Beaufort. We aren't beach or golf people, but we did find inexpensive and fun things to do there. We did find a lot of nice and relatively inexpensive meals there (also contrary to what you think). It was not an expensive week vacation. But I'd never get Bob to go back again. If other people want to visit that's fine with me.

Dennis wrote:
I don't have a problem with them either as long as they are identified as replicas or reconstructions, or whatever they are. I was just surprised to find a lighthouse page which did not indicate this anywhere WRT Harbour Town or Coquina Harbour and had a sort of reverential attitude toward them which I thought should be reserved for those places which actually help mariners by warning of hazards. Where people have lost their lives trying to help mariners and where life was difficult and dangerous.

As I remember the 1st time I visited Hilton Head it had a 100 watt bulb hanging at the top when you climbed it. When I went back at night that was not even lit. The last year they seemed to have some Christmas lights drapped near the top but I was not there a night. It's a neat looking faux and it looks very impressive behind the 18th green when they have the tournament there.

I couldn't agree with Dennis more - ANYTHING that raises people's interest towards Lighthouses is the important issue here.

Yes I'm in favor of anything that raises interest in lighthouses. I'm not saying that there should be no lighthouse type signs or that people shouldn't be able to climb it if they want.

I just object to them being presented as real lighthouses on websites and in person. I see Harbour Lights has TWO of that faux lighthouse.

[I also see that when I search on Hilton Head, the front range light cottage - which looks nice - doesn't come up because the website spelled Hilton Head as Hildon Head]

I'm with you Rosalie, I can't stand them either! If you want to call it an AtoN then any landmark can be used for that. In my opinion, Hilton Head does have years of recognition. The rest should probably get miniature golf course status!

Sean