Is it worth saving a privately owned lighthouse on a privately owned Georgia barrier island?
The 200-year-old lighthouse on the north end of Little Cumberland Island is in danger of toppling into the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists cite ferocious tides and sea level rise as dangers to the 60-foot white brick lighthouse. They say that in five, maybe 10 years the lighthouse could be gone.
The lighthouse has borne witness to slave ships and Union gunboats, the earthquake of 1886 and numerous founderings of ships and sailors in the nearby sea.
"People will be very upset on the island if it falls into the ocean, " said Paula Eubanks, an ex-Atlantan who lives full time on privately owned Little Cumberland. "It's just an important part of island culture and lore."
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