Lighthouses and the Great Shake of 1886: Part 1

It began quietly enough. Disturbances in South Carolina's Abbeville County during the spring of 1886 sounded as if artillery were being detonated underground. Slight tremors of the earth were felt in the Charleston area in June of 1886. Two months later, a moderate tremor was felt by the lighthouse keeper at the Waackaack Light Station on New York Bay in New Jersey. The date was August 10, 1886, and the time was 2:10 p.m. The event lasted less than a minute and was accompanied by a low, rumbling noise.