LOUISIANA: Restoration on Horizon for Civil War Lighthouse
If you take a 21/2-mile drive down a bumpy gravel road near the Cheniere LNG terminal, you’ll dead-end at the historic Sabine Pass Lighthouse, which rises 75 feet above the marshy grasses of Southwest Louisiana.
Don’t forget to bring a small boat. You’ll need it to reach the lighthouse grounds, which lie a short distance across Lighthouse Bayou.
Although it’s off the beaten path, Andy Tingler, president of the Cameron Preservation Alliance, envisions building a museum and making the lighthouse a tourist attraction.
First lit in 1857, the lighthouse is now starting to look its age. It was decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1952. The Cameron Preservation Alliance is working to raise money to start the costly repair process, which Tingler estimates will cost between $2 and 2.5 million.
The large cargo ships and tankers that now cruise past the lighthouse are only a part of the regional history the structure has seen during its long life in Sabine Pass.
Early in its history, the lighthouse witnessed Civil War battles and a small skirmish in the surrounding marsh. The tower was used for its high vantage point as Union soldiers sought to spy on the Confederates at Fort Griffin across the river.
On April 16, 1863, the two sides met at the foot of the lighthouse, resulting in several deaths. Tingler said remnants of a Civil War-era ship remain below the waters just off the shore.
The 5-foot-thick brick walls at the base of the lighthouse have been battered by numerous hurricanes over the past 160 years. A storm in 1886 destroyed the original keeper’s house on the property, and most recently, Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc in 2008.
Photo: Ryan Pelham, Ryan Pelham/The Enterprise
Don’t forget to bring a small boat. You’ll need it to reach the lighthouse grounds, which lie a short distance across Lighthouse Bayou.
Although it’s off the beaten path, Andy Tingler, president of the Cameron Preservation Alliance, envisions building a museum and making the lighthouse a tourist attraction.
First lit in 1857, the lighthouse is now starting to look its age. It was decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1952. The Cameron Preservation Alliance is working to raise money to start the costly repair process, which Tingler estimates will cost between $2 and 2.5 million.
The large cargo ships and tankers that now cruise past the lighthouse are only a part of the regional history the structure has seen during its long life in Sabine Pass.
Early in its history, the lighthouse witnessed Civil War battles and a small skirmish in the surrounding marsh. The tower was used for its high vantage point as Union soldiers sought to spy on the Confederates at Fort Griffin across the river.
On April 16, 1863, the two sides met at the foot of the lighthouse, resulting in several deaths. Tingler said remnants of a Civil War-era ship remain below the waters just off the shore.
The 5-foot-thick brick walls at the base of the lighthouse have been battered by numerous hurricanes over the past 160 years. A storm in 1886 destroyed the original keeper’s house on the property, and most recently, Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc in 2008.
Ike flooded the marsh with 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. As waves crashed against the tower’s bricks, the saltwater corroded cast iron stairs that once wound their way to the lantern room, said Tingler, who works as a National Weather Service forecaster in Lake Charles. The staircase collapsed after the storm.
Tingler said repairing the cracks in the brick walls of the tower is the first priority, which he estimates will cost $500,000. Once those repairs are made, the group would like to build a temporary roof to prevent further damage, while focusing on other repairs. Tingler said replacing the stairs, copper roof and the cast iron lantern room will cost around $1.2 million.
Louisiana Rep. Bob Hensgens has filed HB 65, which, if passed into law, would create a Sabine Pass Lighthouse specialty license plate that would raise $20 a year per plate for the group.
Tingler said he has talked with industrial plants in the area about donating money, but he plans to have a construction bid with more exact costs before seeking corporate donations.
The preservation alliance raised $30,000 toward their goal with the group’s first Lighthouse Run on Holly Beach this past October. The run will return on Oct. 14.
–beaumontenterprise.com
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