The Cape Romain Lighthouses are located on the South Carolina shoreline. It was constructed on Raccoon key, which is now remembered as Lighthouse Island. These are the most unique lighthouses found in South Carolina. These lighthouses are only visible by boat. The main function of these lighthouses is to alert mariners of the dangerous shoal. However, it failed its role due to its weak signal. The lighting mechanism was later upgraded, but still not satisfactory.
The first and the oldest lighthouse, was built in 1827. This was a red brick tower and was 65 feet tall. Later on around 1857, this tower was replaced with an advanced lighthouse. Unfortunately, this new replaced tower was destroyed in the Civil war in order to free the slaves who worked on the tower. However, that didn't't't stop the area leaders from building a new tower. A new tower was rebuilt which is now the most beautiful historic site and is over 150 feet tall. The tower has an octagonal pyramidal shape and it was decommissioned in 1947.
The color of the towers was changed couple of times. There was a tie when the old tower was painted white and the new tower was given a darker shade. Later on, the lower portion of the new tower was given a white, while the upper part was given black and white color. The old tower was given red color to let it stand out from the new tower. The bottom part of the old tower still remains though the wooden staircase no longer exists, however, the new tower is in an excellent condition and has 195 spiral staircase that leads to the lantern room.
