Lighthouse Inlet Folly Afternoon 18 X 24"

Lighthouse inlet separates Folly Island From Morris Island and is home to the famous Morris Island Lighthouse. The Lighthouse now has a motor vehicle SC license plate commemorating it.

Apparently, money from the sale of these plates goes to the "Save the Light" foundation.

This is the north end of Folly, which has much to deal with regarding nature's powerful energy assaults from wind, sand, rain and tides. We always referred to it as "down by the Coast Guard Station" which used to call this end of the island home. This end is past the "washout" . The Washout used to be an  active creek separating North folly from Folly Island proper and was an important obstacle to the invading union troops who were advancing north for the 1863 bloody assault on confederate defenses on Morris Island.

The wind has sculpted the vegetation at this end of the island and scrub oak ,Red Bay trees, and Palmettos must stand strong against the "elements" to survive here.

This afternoon, the sun is setting to the left of he scene and shadows are blue and purple from reflected light off the ocean and inlet.  The wind was strong and gusty making waves and whitecaps on the lighthouse creek inlet as seen in the background. The tide was high and surf attacked the fallen trees and dunes with frothy suds blowing off the water. Up top, the vegetation catches the afternoon sun, but below, the vegetation lives in shade altering these structure's hues considerably. The trunks of dead trees have lost their bark and are bleached white by the sun and salt spray. When in the shade,  these trunks appear to glow light blue in color reflecting the ocean color..

 Although Lighthouse Inlet is well known for it shark population, rare are  shark attacks on humans.  Drayton Hastie Sr who was 15 years old back in 1933 was bitten by a shark at the north end of Morris. Also, 5 days earlier that same year, Emma Meggison, a 19 year old College of Charleston  student received a bite.

 This painting is of acrylic and is on stretched canvas frame. It is 18 X 24 " and weighs 1.25 pounds.