Why 1873? The Timeframe Behind By the Light of the Bluff

When I first read Eugenia Price’s Lighthouse, I didn’t just fall in love with Saint Simons Island—I fell in love with historical fiction. Her storytelling introduced me to the idea that places carry memory, and that fiction rooted in real history can shine light on both forgotten people and timeless themes.

So when I began writing By the Light of the Bluff, I knew exactly where I wanted to set it. But when? That was a tougher question—until I realized the story I wanted to tell could coincide with a real moment in the island’s past: the construction of the present-day lighthouse in the early 1870s, which replaced the original one destroyed during the Civil War.

That moment in time—1873—was rich with change. The country was still recovering from war, and the Federal Lighthouse Board was actively rebuilding coastal lights all across the country. New towers were going up. Old ones were being repaired. And the very idea of light as protection, as sanctuary, was becoming a national priority.

It felt right.

It also gave me a chronological starting point for something bigger. By the Light of the Bluff is just the beginning of a larger story. I’ve always envisioned this as a series, with each book unfolding in its own season, its own generation—but always rooted in the 19th century, before the march of the 20th century began to reshape the world.

I wanted a quiet time of transition, not the noise of modernization. I wanted oil lamps, not electricity. Letters, not telegraphs. Wind, not engines.

And most of all, I wanted a lighthouse rising—not as a relic of the past, but as a symbol of hope in a time when everything felt uncertain.