Chandeleur Island Light

The Chandeleur Island Light was a lighthouse established in 1848 near the northern end of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico, off the east coast of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the light in 2005.

Chandeleur Island Light
c. 1986
LocationChandeleur Islands, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana
Coordinates30°2′50″N 88°52′41″W
Year first constructed1848
Year first lit1896 (most recent tower)
Automated1966
Deactivateddestroyed by Katrina, 2005
FoundationPile
ConstructionIron
Tower shapeSkeletal with cylinder
Markings / patternBrown with black lantern
Focal height102 feet (31 m)
Original lens3rd order Fresnel lens
Characteristicvarious, most recent: Flashing white
Fog signalnone
USCG number[1]
Heritageplace listed on the National Register of Historic Places 
Chandeleur Light
Nearest cityNew Orleans, Louisiana
Area0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built1896
Architectural styleLighthouse Tower
NRHP reference No.86001404[2]
Added to NRHPJune 25, 1986

History

The first light was finished in 1848 with nine lamps in 21 inches (530 mm) reflectors about 55 feet (17 m) above the base. The tower and the keeper's house were destroyed by a hurricane in August 1852.[3]

A second, brick, tower was in operation by 1855, with a focal plane of 50 feet (15 m). By 1865 it had a 4th order Fresnel lens. This tower was the only building on the site that survived the hurricane of October 1, 1893, but it was badly damaged and was taken down. Congress appropriated $35,000 for its replacement.[4]

A new, iron skeleton tower with a 3rd order Fresnel lens (focal plane 102 feet (31 m)) was erected in its place in 1895.[5] The light figured in a case before the United States Supreme Court. After a barge carrying fertilizer ran aground, it was determined that the Coast Guard had been negligent in maintaining the proper operation of the light. The Court held that the United States was liable.[6] The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as Chandeleur Light.

Erosion eventually left the tower standing alone in the water, with the last auxiliary building, a keeper's house, destroyed by Hurricane Camille in 1969. The tower was utterly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, so that a visit by a research vessel the following spring found no trace of it.[3]

  • The 1856 brick tower
  • The light in 1960. Note how much more land there is than in 1971.
  • 1971
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References
  1. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Louisiana". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  3. "Chandeleur Island, LA". LighthouseFriends. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2013-05-20.
  4. (28 Stat. 375)
  5. Breton National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge brochure. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. August, 2006, p.4.
  6. Indian Towing Co. v. United States 350 U.S. 61 (1955)
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