Bay Point, SC 
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For much of the nineteenth century, Port Royal Harbor stood as one of the finest natural harbors on the southeastern coast of the United States. Deep, wide, and protected from heavy seas, the harbor offered safe anchorage for large vessels and commanded a strategic position between Charleston and Savannah. Yet despite its natural advantages, the approach to Port Royal was hazardous. Shoals, shifting sandbars, and tidal currents at the harbor’s entrance demanded precise navigation. To guide mariners through this dangerous gateway, the federal government ultimately established a system of range lights and light-vessels, including the short-lived but significant Bay Point Light.
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When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Port Royal quickly became a prize for Union naval forces. On November 7, 1861, a powerful fleet under Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont attacked the Confederate forts guarding the harbor—Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island and Fort Beauregard on Bay Point. After a fierce bombardment, the Confederate garrisons abandoned their positions, and Port Royal fell into Union hands. The victory gave the U.S. Navy its first major deep-water base in the South, transforming the harbor into a critical supply, repair, and coaling station for the blockade of the Confederate coastline.
The retreating Confederate forces destroyed navigational aids as they withdrew. The light-vessel that had marked the harbor entrance was removed and burned, leaving the channel unlit at a moment when Union naval traffic was rapidly increasing. Recognizing the danger, federal authorities moved quickly to restore aids to navigation. In 1861, immediately after receiving word of Port Royal’s capture, the Lighthouse Board ordered a new light-vessel to be fitted and dispatched to replace the one destroyed by the confederate forces.
By 1862, the replacement light-vessel was stationed off the harbor entrance. It remained in position throughout the year and proved “of very material assistance” to the growing number of vessels entering Port Royal or operating along the nearby coast. The lightship, however, could not fully solve the navigational challenges posed by the shoals and narrow channels at the harbor mouth. A more permanent and precise system was needed.
Congress responded in 1863 by appropriating $7,000 for the establishment of a series of range lights to guide vessels safely into Port Royal Harbor. These lights were designed to work together, forming visible alignments that would mark the safest channel through the shoals. When a mariner kept the rear and front range lights in line, the vessel would remain on the correct course.
Early that year, the Lighthouse Board undertook surveys, approved engineering plans, and arranged for construction. The range structures were built and fitted in Portland, Maine, then shipped south to Port Royal. The system included two lights on Hilton Head Island, a beacon light on Bay Point, and a light-vessel anchored on Fishing Rip, a dangerous shoal near the entrance.
Military cooperation was essential. Soldiers from the Union garrison cleared a long vista through the dense woods on Hilton Head so that the inner range light could be seen from seaward. The U.S. Navy provided a suitable vessel for stationing on Fishing Rip. By the end of 1863, the range system was completed and lighted, to the great benefit of the expanding wartime commerce and naval traffic using the harbor.
The Lighthouse Board’s annual reports for 1863 and 1864 emphasized how heavily the tenders in the district were employed, including transporting materials to Beaufort and Port Royal for the new range structures. By 1864, the new lights were credited with providing “immense benefit” to the large volume of shipping entering the harbor.
The first keepers of Bay Point Light were Edward M. Converse and his wife Margaret. Edward received an annual salary of $400, while Margaret received half that as her husband’s assistant. Edward enlisted in the Union Navy in Massachusetts in 1861 and served until mustering out in 1863. In 1866, another husband-and-wife team, Henry M. and Missouri Cowdery were placed in charge of the light.
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Bay Point, located near the site of Fort Beauregard, became one of the key elements in this range system. The first Bay Point light was not housed in a purpose-built lighthouse but instead displayed from a large barracks building erected by Confederate forces in 1861. By 1865 the Lighthouse Board noted that the structure was “slightly built” and already showing signs of decay. The Board recommended that a proper lighthouse of the second or third order be constructed to serve this important harbor.
Congress acted in 1866, appropriating $50,000 for a new lighthouse at Bay Point. Before any permanent structure could be erected, however, disaster struck. On May 29, 1866, a tornado destroyed the old barracks that had served as the light station. A temporary wooden tower was hastily built, and the light was again exhibited as usual.
By 1867, the temporary works had also suffered storm damage and were replaced by a skeletal wooden frame tower. The illuminating apparatus was little more than a steamer’s lens, but officials noted that it appeared adequate for existing needs.
In 1868, when surplus Navy property at Bay Point was sold, the former keeper’s dwelling was reserved for the Lighthouse Establishment. The building required repairs, but the temporary tower remained in good condition. Even so, no steps were taken to construct the lighthouse authorized two years earlier, and officials openly questioned whether such a light would ever be required.
That question was answered in 1869, when Bay Point Light was officially discontinued on June 30. For several years, the harbor relied on other aids, and the Bay Point station remained dark.
Yet Port Royal’s strategic and commercial importance did not fade. In 1876, Congress appropriated $40,000 for the reestablishment of range lights at Hilton Head and Bay Point to improve the entrance to the harbor once again. Two years later, in 1878, surveys were conducted and a site for a new Bay Point light was selected. Legal difficulties, however, delayed acquisition of the land. Then, in a reversal of policy, Congress repealed the earlier act and authorized the construction of new range lights on nearby Parris Island instead. All operations at Bay Point were suspended, bringing an end to its role as a navigational station.
Though short-lived and often improvised, Bay Point Light played a crucial role during one of the most transformative periods in Port Royal’s history. Born out of the urgency of war, it formed part of a coordinated system that guided Union warships, supply vessels, and commercial steamers into a harbor that had become a linchpin of federal naval power in the South. Its story reflects the constant struggle between nature, war, and technology along America’s coasts—and the adaptability of the Lighthouse Service in meeting those challenges.
