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The fifth order Fresnel lens that was removed from South Carolina’s Georgetown Lighthouse in 1986 has returned home to South Carolina after a two year effort that was mounted by Robert “Mac” McAlister of the South Carolina Maritime Museum to have the lens brought back to Georgetown.
Although the lens was not reinstalled in the tower, it was put on display at the South Carolina Maritime Museum where local residents and others will now be able to view it. When the lens was originally removed from the tower in 1986, it was put on display at the Coast Guard Station in Georgetown, South Carolina. However, in 2001 the Coast Guard removed the lens and put it on display at the Coast Guard’s 7th District Headquarters in Miami, Florida.
The total cost to have the lens brought back and put on display at the South Carolina Maritime Museum is stated to have been around $14,000. The lens remains the property of the Coast Guard and is on a 10-year loan to the museum, which is selling “Friends of the Lens” tee-shirts to help defray the cost of moving the lens and insuring it at its new location. At a ceremony on July 31, 2014 the lens was relighted to the awe of those in attendance.
This story appeared in the
Sep/Oct 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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