Zabo McCants has been to the top of New York City's Empire State building. But to McCants, staring out over the Atlantic Ocean on a clear day from the edge of the United States at Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina, is no less impressive, especially at sunrise. There's something about knowing there's another continent on the other side of the great body of water.
McCants and thousands of others have savored that very view from the park's famed 136-foot-tall lighthouse, which has stood watch over the South Carolina Lowcountry for nearly 150 years. During that time, it's become as much of a fixture on the Lowcountry landscape as the Empire State Building is in Midtown Manhattan. "It might not be quite as high," McCants says, "but the skyline is just as beautiful.
" But time, salt water, moisture and the tens of thousands of people who have climbed its 167 steps to top have taken their toll. Much to the disappointment of its legion of fans, the legendary lighthouse went dark in February 2022, when the state's parks department closed it to the public after deeming it unsafe because of cracks and corrosion in its bricks and cast-iron staircase. Hunting Island State Park attracts more 1 million visitors a year, making it the state's most popular, and the lighthouse, which is featured on one state license plate design, is one of the central attractions.
Now the lighthouse in the state's most popular state park is undergoing a $3.2 million project to restore the historic ligh.