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Lighthouse History
Built: 1885
Type: Screwpile / hexagonal-shaped
cottage with a lantern perched on top
Height: 54 Feet
Status: Deactivated: 1967
- Under restoration
Location: Mobile Harbor/Mobile
Bay
Access: Boat
Notes: Grant had greatly
improved access to Mobile Bay and the port at Mobile, however, the twenty
nine miles between these points were still hazard for mariners. Mobile
Bay is quite shallow, and in the early 1800s the best shipping channel
inside the bay was only marked by wooden stakes and copper-clad barrels.
It wasn't until a channel with a depth of 17 feet was dredged in the 1880s
that large vessels could safely reach Mobile. This improvement prompted
the construction of a lighthouse at the bend in the dogleg channel, which
was located midway along the route. Given its location in roughly the center
of the bay, the lighthouse is known as both Middle Bay Lighthouse and Mobile
Bay Lighthouse.
Due to high labor costs
in the post-Civil-War South, the lighthouse was prefabricated in the North
and then shipped to Mobile Point, where it arrived in 1885. The screwpile
lighthouse consisted of a wooden hexagonal dwelling with a roof that slopped
upwards to the centrally located lantern room. The lighthouse was supported
by seven legs -one in the middle, and a single leg extending from each
corner of the superstructure. After the piles had been screwed into the
bottom of the bay, the structure suddenly settled seven and a half feet
on September 12, 1885. Wooden piles were hurriedly driven around the screwpiles
and succeeded in stabilizing the lighthouse. On December 1, 1885, the light
from a fourth-order Fresnel lens first cast its beam from atop the lighthouse.
In the summer of 1916, the
light-keeper's wife gave birth. The keeper faced a daunting problem with
his wife unable to nurse the hungry newborn. There was no refrigeration
and supplies were inconsistent. His solution was simple. A milk cow was
brought to the lighthouse and corralled on a section of the deck. Both
cow and baby survived, but were later evacuated before a hurricane hit
the coast.
In 1935, the light was electrified.
During the next several decades, no keepers were present to care for the
lighthouses, and it fell into a state of disrepair.
The lighthouse is in need
of periodic maintenance and refurbishing. By 2002, the lighthouse had deteriorated
quite badly, and a major restoration effort was initiated by Thompson Engineering
under a $349,400 contract form the Alabama Historical Commission. As part
of this project, the lighthouse received a new slate roof, and damaged
wood and corroded tie rods were replaced. The roughly fifteen-foot-tall
pyramidal structure that displayed a red flashing light atop the lighthouse
was replaced by a six-foot pole supporting a solar powered red light. |