Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast

On Thursday, May 6, at 6 p.m., author William Rawlings will present a virtual program about his book Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast, due to be released in April by Mercer University Press. The Society is thrilled that the St. Simons Lighthouse is on the cover.

Rawlings’ richly illustrated book devotes a chapter to each of Georgia’s five lighthouses, exploring their unique styles and stories. “These magnificent structures continue to fascinate us, not only for their intrinsic beauty, but also as monuments of our shared history,” notes the author. “From the mid-eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, they were an integral part of the state’s economy, vital to trade in cotton, rice, timber, naval stores, and other products shipped to ports in America and around the world.” The book also includes information about lighthouse design and construction, the role and legacy of the keepers, and the strategic importance of the structures during the Civil War.

A prolific writer of “Southern stories,” Rawlings is the author of eleven books, both fiction and nonfiction. He is a lifelong resident of Sandersville, Georgia, home to his family for more than two centuries. Now retired from his practice in internal medicine, he was educated at Emory, Tulane, and Johns Hopkins Universities. Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast is his fifth work of nonfiction.

This virtual program is free and open to the public. To register, visit EventBrite. A Zoom link to the lecture will be sent the week of the event.