The Daufuskie Island Lighthouse at Bloody Point

In 1881 Congress paid for a string of range lights to lead ships up the Savannah River, and in 1882 the government bought a piece of Daufuskie’s southern end for $425. The Bloody Point lights were lit on April 20, 1883. They worked as a pair: the front light was a lamp in the dormer window of the keeper’s house, and the rear light stood on a 91-foot iron tower behind it, so a captain who kept one above the other was in the channel. John Michael Doyle, who had overseen the building, was the first keeper.

The sea kept eating the point, and in 1899 the keeper’s house was moved about 4,350 feet inland, to where it stands now. After the light was retired, Arthur “Papy” Burn bought the property in 1926 and lived there for about forty years. The house is part of the island’s historic district on the National Register, and after Wick Scurry of Calibogue Cruises bought it in 2015 it was restored and opened as a museum and gift shop.

Papy Burn started making wine in 1953, out of blackberries, elderberries, scuppernongs and whatever else grew nearby, in the little brick building where the keepers had stored their lamp oil. He called it Silver Dew, and Pat Conroy wrote it into The Water Is Wide. The name is back over the door: the winery pours tastings in the oil house again, next to a small vineyard of scuppernong grapes.

The grounds are planted with the island’s old crops as well: indigo, Sea Island cotton and Carolina Gold rice, each with a sign telling its story. There are chairs on the lawn and a pond out back.

The lighthouse is privately owned and open to the public as a museum and gift shop, with Civil War relics, maritime displays and island history inside the keeper’s house. Hours change with the seasons, so call (843) 342-8687 before you go; the same office runs Freeport Marina and the Island Head boats.

It is on Beach Road near the island’s southern tip, a golf-cart ride from Freeport Marina or Melrose Landing, and Bloody Point Beach is a few minutes further on, so the two make one stop. The island has no cars for visitors: book a cart with your boat, and see our Daufuskie Island ferry page for the crossings.

Bloody Point is named for fights between the Yamasee and the Carolina settlers here in 1715, early in the Yamasee War. In 1899 the point served as a quarantine station, where 25,000 soldiers of the Spanish-American War were held for five days.

Today the name also belongs to the gated community at the south end and to its golf course, which has closed; our Daufuskie Island golf page has that story. The beach at the point is public and one of the island’s best; it is on our things to do on Daufuskie Island page, and the rest of the island’s past is on our Daufuskie Island history page.