An 1872 lighthouse with museum and heritage centre, adjacent to a village of shops and restaurants on St. Simons Island.
$12-$15 per person
Book direct via the vendor website
The St. Simons Island Lighthouse has stood at the southern tip of the island since 1872, and the climb to the top is one of the simplest, most pleasant ways to spend a non-golf afternoon in the Golden Isles. The current structure replaced an earlier lighthouse destroyed during the Civil War, and the adjacent keeper's cottage houses a museum on the maritime history of the Georgia coast. The A.W. Jones Heritage Center and WWII Home Front Museum nearby cover the island's role during the Second World War.
The climb is modest and the reward is a panoramic view of St. Simons Island, the surrounding marsh, and the coastline, with Jekyll Island visible to the south and Sea Island to the east on clear days. It's a useful visual orientation to how the islands sit together. The adjacent St. Simons village, a collection of shops, galleries, and restaurants, fills the rest of a two- to three-hour visit. The pace is unhurried and informal, grounded in local character rather than resort polish. An afternoon that begins at the lighthouse and ends with an early dinner in the village is hard to beat.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sunday, 12pm to 5pm. Admission is $12 adults, $5 children ages 6 to 12. No reservation required. The lighthouse is a 10-minute drive from most St. Simons Island accommodations. Parking is available near the village.