Type:
Year Established:
1855
Existing:
No
Source:
LL-1908
Download:
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
2000
Photo Credit:
Mike and Carol McKinney
Photo Courtesy of:
US Lighthouse Society
Collection / Donor:
LOCATION
Location:
Rigolets Channel Lake Borgne
Latitude:
30° 10.33'
Longitude:
89° 44.34'
City / Town:
New Orleans
U.S. State:
Louisiana
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Discontinued:
1945
Disposition:
2000: Wharf and walkway gone; brick bases for a pair of large wooden cisterns (cisterns gone); oil house; 2005: Destroyed
Year Tower Established:
1855
Tower Construction Material:
Wood
Tower Foundation:
Pilings
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
29
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
29
Tower Shape:
Round Lantern on Square House
Tower Daymark:
White
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
Yes
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1855
Keeper's Quarters Style:
Square with verandas
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
Wood
OPTICS
Original Optic Type:
5th order Fresnel
Year Original Lens Installed:
1855
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jul 20, 2017
In 1826, Congress allotted $200 for a lighthouse at the Petite Coquilles, just inside Lake Pontchartrain. The appropriation was much too small to establish any sort of light, let alone a ship's lantern. A real lighthouse was recommended in 1832 to mark Fort Pike at the west end of the Rigolets, but the government felt that the East Rigolets tower was adequate to serve the needs of mariners in the area. Finally, during its 1850s effort to create a true system of lighthouses on the lake, the newly formed Lighthouse Board suggested a screwpile harbor light 1,200 feet west of Fort Pike as a guide to vessels entering the Rigolets from the lake. In 1855, at the cost of about $5,000, the Board established a small station at West Rigolets. The square dwelling held a lantern centered on its hipped roof 30 feet above the lake which was visible for 10 miles.
During the Civil War, the lens and supplies for the lighthouse were left in the charge of the Confederate-loyal keeper James Cain. Confederate authorities requested the light be extinguished on July 6, 1861 to impede Union advances. Eventually, as Union forces advanced on New Orleans and a Federal lighthouse engineer was established there, priority was placed on relighting the West Rigolets light. A temporary ship's lantern was shown from the lighthouse in November of 1862. Unfortunately, tragedy struck at the light not long after its relighting. On his second night, the new Union-loyal keeper Thomas Harrison was found shot on the wharf. It is unknown whether he was shot by Confederates, Union soldiers, or some other party. Harrison is the only keeper known to have been killed at his post during the Civil War.
By 1863, the area was under more consistent Union control, and the West Rigolets station was renovated and a fifth-order Fresnel lens was shown. The rest of the light station's history is fairly uneventful. Hurricanes throughout the years gave the station some trouble. Storms in 1868 caused around $5,000 of damage. Later storms made repairs necessary in 1869 and 1917. In 1945, an electric 200mm lens was established nearby, and the station discontinued.
The station was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.