History of Tybee Island
Tybee Island is an island and a present-day city in Chatham County, Georgia near the city of Savannah. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,392. The island, which includes the city of the same name, had a population of 3,713.
Tybee Island may be best known outside of Georgia as the home of the Tybee Bomb, a nuclear weapon that was lost offshore on February 5, 1958. Officially renamed "Savannah Beach" in a publicity move at the end of the 1950s, the city of Tybee Island has since reverted to its original name (although maps show the use of the name "Savannah Beach" as far back as 1952) on official state
maps. The small island, which has long been a quiet getaway for the residents of Savannah, has become a popular vacation spot with tourists from outside the Savannah metropolitan area.
Tybee Island was originally inhabited by the Euchee Native American tribe and gave the island its name: tybee is an Euchee word for salt.
In 1733, English settlers led by James Oglethorpe settled on Tybee Island before moving on to settle eventually in Savannah. In 1736, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, arrived on Tybee Island.
The Tybee Island Light Station is one of just a handful of 18th century lighthouses still in operation in North America. First built in the year 1736, the lighthouse was made of brick and wood, and was standing 90 feet tall, making it the highest structure in America at that time.
Today the Tybee Lighthouse is a popular tourist destination, having all of its support buildings on the five-acre site historically preserved. The current black and white tower markings is a reversion to its fourth day mark, first used in 1916.
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Lighthouse Point Beach Club
85 Van Horne Avenue # 8C, Tybee Island, Ga 31328
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