1827 and 1857 Twin Lighthouses on a Restricted Barrier Island
Lighthouse Island, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, McClellanville, SC 29458
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Refuge is free; access to Lighthouse Island requires a charter boat from McClellanville or a private vessel. Towers are not open to climb.
Access
Limited Access
Remote barrier-island sand and marsh; accessible only by boat
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1827 · Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge · Enslaved-Labor Construction (1857 Tower) · Leaning Lighthouse Tower · Antebellum Coastal Engineering
The Cape Romain shoals, extending offshore between Charleston Harbor and Winyah Bay, were a chronic hazard to coastal shipping by the early 19th century. The federal government authorized a lighthouse on Raccoon Key — later called Lighthouse Island — and the first 65-foot tower was completed in 1827. Mariners complained almost immediately that the light was too low and too dim to be effective against the shoals offshore.
A second tower, much taller at 150 feet, was constructed adjacent to the first and lit in 1857. The 1857 tower was built using enslaved labor — a historical reality the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges directly in current interpretive material. The brick structure carried a first-order Fresnel lens visible 19 miles to sea. The original 1827 tower remained on site but ceased operation when the new tower entered service.
The 1857 tower's foundation began settling almost immediately. The structure now tilts visibly to the southwest, an unrepaired condition that has persisted for more than a century and a half. The tower remained operational despite the lean until automation. The light was decommissioned in 1947.
The surrounding land became Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in 1932, established for migratory bird habitat. Today the refuge covers 66,287 acres of barrier islands, salt marsh, and shallow estuary, accessible primarily by boat. Both lighthouse towers remain on Lighthouse Island as historic structures. Neither is open for climbing. The mainland Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center, located on US-17 north of Charleston, serves as the refuge's interpretive base.
Sources
The Cape Romain murder is among the more-discussed 19th-century lighthouse incidents on the South Carolina coast, though its details are contested across sources. The Lighthouse Digest historical archive names the keeper as Andrew Johnson (or Johansen), a Norwegian-born man who had been stationed at the lighthouse since 1867; the Southern Spirit Guide version of the story uses the name Fischer, which may reflect a later folk variant. Both accounts place the incident on April 8, 1873. According to both accounts, the keeper's wife was found in their cottage with her throat cut. Cash and jewelry she had recently withdrawn — a bequest from a prior marriage — were missing.
The death was ruled a suicide. Local tradition holds that the keeper later made an admission on his deathbed, though the Lighthouse Digest notes his final speech was incoherent, leaving the confession as legend rather than clear documented fact. The missing valuables were never recovered.
Subsequent keepers reported persistent paranormal phenomena attributed to the murdered woman. Keeper August Friedrich Wichmann, who served at Cape Romain as Second Assistant Keeper from 1906 to 1908 and as Principal Keeper from 1913 to 1934, reported repeatedly hearing footsteps ascending the tower stairs. Wichmann's son, who was born at the lighthouse, later said the family understood those footsteps to be those of the woman who died in the cottage. Local tradition also holds that blood stains recurred on the cottage floor at the site of the incident, until the cottage itself was demolished in the 20th century.
Visitors to Lighthouse Island today have continued to describe footsteps inside the 1857 tower and unexplained sounds in the surrounding salt marsh. The towers are closed to the public for climbing, limiting direct visitor reports. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service interpretive material does not present the murder narrative; it appears primarily in regional lighthouse-history publications and Southern Spirit Guide collections.
Notable Entities
View the Cape Romain lighthouses from a chartered boat tour or kayak passing offshore in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. Lighthouse Island access is restricted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit; do NOT approach, enter the structures, or step onto the island without authorization. The towers and their distinctive lean can be observed respectfully from the public waters of Bulls Bay.
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