Bayou Bonfouca Lighthouse, Louisiana
BONFOUCA (BAYOU BONFOUCA) LIGHT
Location: NORTH LAKE PONCHARTRAIN, NEAR SLIDELL, LOUISIANA
Station Established: 1848
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1848
Operational? NO
Automated? NO
Deactivated: 1862
Foundation Materials: UNKNOWN
Construction Materials: WOOD
Tower Shape: SQUARE TOWER ON TOP OF DWELLING
Markings/Pattern: UNKNOWN
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: N/A
Lighthouse Keepers:
- Vincenzo Scorza; 1848-1869 [Information provided by Andrella Scorza Morris]
Historical Information:
- The lighthouse was built by Joseph M. Howell and Moses Coates of New Orleans.
- The lighthouse was two rooms with a nine foot chamber between the rooms. The chamber was the base of the tower. The tower extended 12 feet above the roof. The house sat on a five foot wall.
- The original optics was four small lamps in a lantern that measured six feet by three feet. The light did not need to be seen more than five miles away which explained its small stature.
- Union forces captured the light in 1862 and it was destroyed. It was replaced by Point Aux Herbes Light across the light. That light was destroyed by fire in the 1950’s.
Researched and written by Melissa Buckler, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.