Tybee light now shining from the back of cars as lighthouse vanity plates are now available

Georgia drivers can now show their Tybee Island pride with a new specialty license plate that features the city’s historic lighthouse against a blue sky. After a two-year long legislative process, the Tybee Lighthouse tag, showcasing the oldest and tallest beacon in the state, has been approved and can be purchased at the nearest county tag office.

Georgia House Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah), who sponsored the tag bill in the 2021 legislative session, said he’s excited for those who’ve been itching to showcase the photorealistic design from local artist Kathryn Boaen on their vehicles.

Previous story: Tybee Island announces winning license plate design, urges people to pre-order

“Everybody knows our lighthouse is the most beautiful,” quipped Petrea, who spent much of his childhood at his grandparents' house on Tybee. “If I didn't have my Capitol tag, you better believe I would (purchase one).”

For those who do end up snagging the vanity license plate, a fraction of the proceeds will directly support the Tybee Island Historical Society (TIHS). For every sale and annual renewal of the tag, $10 will go towards the TIHS and its $500,000 restoration of the lighthouse.

Before: Tybee Island Lighthouse license plates on the road to reality in the United States

At least 500 active tags are needed in order to keep the design in production. According to Sarah Jones, executive director of the TIHS, about 575 pre-orders of the plate is keeping them afloat so every purchase counts.

Originally, the bill had called for 1,000 pre-orders, with each pre-order costing about $25. However, Jones said generous donations coupled with the pre-orders they did receive were able to take them to the $25,000 threshold to get the bill approved.

“I think once people start seeing it on the roads, you’ll see a growing interest in them,” said Petrea.

Tybee Lighthouse origins go back to the 1700s in Georgia

The origins of the Tybee Lighthouse dates back to 1732 when General James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia, ordered the construction of the lighthouse tower. In the centuries that followed, tides, erosion, Confederate forces and a hurricane felled the lighthouse, calling for several bouts of reconstruction.

In the late 18th century, the illuminated tower guided ships through the narrow Savannah River channel. Among them were the ships and schooners carrying enslaved people as part of the transatlantic slave trade, which violently uprooted more than 12 million Africans, about 388,000 of which ended up in North America through the Middle Passage.

“They needed a navigational lighthouse to perpetuate the skin trade,” said Julia Pearce, a local activist and founder of the non-profit TybeeMLK Human Rights Organization. “It’s American history, but it’s history that we don’t often talk about.”

Pearce, along with other community members who are part of the group Lazaretto Coalition, have conducted independent research into the Tybee area, whose history is inextricably tied to the Middle Passage, says Pearce.

Through that, they discovered another facet of the lighthouse's history: a tax levied on slave ships with the intention of funding the rebuilding of the lighthouse. The passage of such a bill is documented in the December 28, 1768 issue of the Georgia Gazette.

The paper reads: "An act for laying a duty upon negroes and other slaves that have been above six months in any of the islands or colonies in America and imported for sale in this province, and for appropriating the same towards the repairing or rebuilding the lighthouse on Tybee Island..."

Whether that money was ultimately collected and used towards the restoration or reconstruction of the lighthouse in the 18th century is still being researched, according to Jones of TIHS.

Today, the Tybee Lighthouse stands at 145 feet, painted in its unique black-white-black daymark pattern, and is a quintessential symbol of the island. The 60-foot base is a remnant of the original construction. Keeper's houses share the 5-acre grassy lot that make up the Tybee Island Lighthouse Museum.

Visitors can ascend the 178 steps of the lighthouse and catch a bird’s eye view of the town and the ocean beyond. And, if they so wish, wear the spitting image of this towering beacon of history on the bumper of their cars.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia's newest specialty license plate shows Tybee Island lighthouse