Lighthouse Explorer Database ... South Pass Light

11/20/03 7:57 PM

1-800-758-1444

Name: South Pass Light

Also known as: Gordon's Island Light

Also known as: South Pass Range Rear Light

Nearest Town or City:
Port Eads , Louisiana, United States

Location: Entrance to Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico.

Click to enlarge: 21Kb   
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Managing Organization:
U.S. Coast Guard

Notes:
A 1947 skeletal tower formerly served as a front range light with this lighthouse.

Tower Height: 108

Height of Focal Plane: 116

Description of Tower: Whte, cast iron, octagonal, pyramidal skeletal tower with central cylinder and black lantern.

This light is operational

Earlier Towers?
1832: Wooden tower, destroyed in storm in 1841; 1842: 40-foot wooden tower; 1848: 54-foot octagonal wooden toweron roof of dwelling.

Date Established: 1832

Date Present Tower Built: 1881

Date Automated: 1971

Optics: 1862: Third order Fresnel lens; 18??: Fourth order Fresnel lens; 18??: First order Fresnel lens, now on display at Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans; 1951: DCB-224 optic.

Current Use: Active aid to navigation.

Open To Public? No.

Directions:
Access is by boat only.

Keepers: Henry Heistand (1832-?), James Fisher (c. 1860s), James W. Salazar (Coast Guard, 1951-c. 1954)