Second Chandeleur Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

The outline of the Chandeleur Islands has been aptly described as “a crescent moon in the final phase, a sandy arc extending north and south, bulging eastward at the center.” This prominent string of islands is located roughly sixty miles east of New Orleans and thirty miles south of Biloxi. Ships headed to New Orleans via Lake Pontchartrain and the Rigolets, pass just north of the islands, while those bound for the mouth of the Mississippi pass south of the islands.

The first lighthouse on the islands was constructed of brick and went into service in March of 1848. The tower rose to a height of fifty-five feet, but its existence was cut short in August of 1852 by a hurricane that swept over the islands and toppled the lighthouse.

Appropriations were soon made for a replacement tower, but the worst outbreak of yellow fever in the history of New Orleans disrupted the project, and the tower was not completed until 1855. The second tower, constructed of brick and shown at right, exhibited its light from a fourth-order Fresnel at a focal plane of fifty feet.

During the Civil War, the Chandeleur Island Lighthouse was captured by Union forces before the Confederates had time to remove its lighting apparatus. Sailors from Union warships cared for the light until a civilian keeper could be found. John H. Elder was hired on as keeper. His loyalty to he North was questioned when it was reported that a Southern blockade running vessel was receiving assistance from signals displayed from the tower. Elder was reprimanded, but allowed to retain his position after swearing his allegiance to the Union.

The tower managed to survive the war intact, but it would be buffeted by storms during the following years. By 1891 the tower’s foundation was compromised, and a hurricane in 1893 left the tower with a precarious lean.

Funds for replacing the tower were soon allocated by Congress, and a metal, skeletal tower was in place before the end of 1895. The new tower employed a third-order, clamshell Fresnel lens, which was displayed from a focal plane of nearly 100 feet, roughly twice that of the two previous towers.

Third Chandeleur Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Two keeper's dwellings originally flanked the skeletal tower, as shown in the photograph at right, but by the time this photograph was taken in 1960, only one dwelling remained. The second dwelling had disappeared by the time this photograph was taken in 1971. The Chandeleur Island Lighthouse was automated in 1966, and the island was turned over to the Bureau of Land Management.

The Chandeleur Islands create a buffer zone between the Gulf and the mainland, protecting the New Orleans area from the wind and storm surge associated with hurricanes. With nine spindly legs securely anchored to pilings and supported by a web of diagonal braces, the third Chandeleur Island Lighthouse has managed to withstand several hurricanes and storms during its lifetime of more than a century, including 1969’s deadly hurricane Camille. In September of 1998, Hurricane Georges impacted the Chandeleur Islands with winds of 100-110 mph and a storm surge of 10-12 feet. The overwash from the slow moving hurricane cut what was an almost continuous strand of land into several small pieces. The land surrounding the lighthouse at the northern end of the island was washed away, leaving the lighthouse standing in open water.

The Chandeleur Islands are slowly repairing themselves, but the process is slow and incomplete. As the islands slowly migrate landward, the endangered Chandeleur Island Lighthouse will likely be left alone, as a solitary candle on the water.

In the spring of 2005, the lighthouse was standing in three feet of water. Hurricane Katrina, which struck later that year, toppled the exposed lighthouse. When a research team visited the islands in the spring of 2006, the depth of the water where the lighthouse formerly stood was found to be seventeen feet. The team could find no trace of the lighthouse even though the water was quite clear.

References

1. Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico, David Cipra, 1997.