In addition to beauty, these lanterns also have famous names - The Tradd, The Broad, The Church and The Market.

hen most clever people have an idea, it's said that they've have "a light bulb moment." While she and her husband Peter were building their home, Jan went searching for two glass lanterns to grace her front entryway. Flabbergasted when she was quoted a $3,500 estimate at a local lighting store and treated shabbily by the sales clerk, she went on her own quest. She found her lanterns and her future in upstate South Carolina, where a lamp maker meticulously created historical reproductions of copper lanterns.

"I called my husband immediately and told him, 'We're in the lantern business.'"

As president of Carolina Lanterns and self-proclaimed "lantern lady", Jan has transformed her "light bulb moment" into one of the area's fastest growing lighting and accessory firms.

Carolina Lanterns specializes in handcrafted historical reproductions in copper or solid brass that utilize propane, natural gas, LP gas, or electricity. The lamps come in a wide variety of styles, and many are named for local Charleston streets. But historically-conscious Charlestonians are not the only clients opting for this authentic and romantic look. According to Mitch Mitchell, Carolina Lanterns' sales director, the company has sent their custom lanterns to Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, New York, California, Minnesota and beyond. Locally, the company has lit the way at such prestigious locales as Mt. Pleasant's RiverTowne Country Club and Park West residential development, Kiawah Island's Turtle Point Center, The French Quarter Inn, One Vendue Place in downtown Charleston, several bed and breakfast establishments in the Bluffton region, Beresford Creek on Daniel Island, and over 60 homes in the award-winning I'On community.