Bayou St. John Light, Lake Pontchartrain, mouth of the Bayou St. John, Louisiana
BAYOU ST. JOHN LIGHT
Location: CANAL DE CARONDOLET, BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN
Station Established: 1811
Year First Lit: 1811
Operational: No
Automated: N/A
Deactivated: 1878
Tower Shape/Markings/Pattern: Octagonal wooden tower on artificial island, destroyed by storm in 1837; 1838 a new 48-foot tower was constructed; in 1855 a screwpile, cottage-type structure was built, damaged during 1860 hurricane; 1869 a tower was built on the screwpile foundation.
Height: 48'
Original Lens: Sixth Order, Fresnel (1869)
Characteristic:
Fog Signal:
Historical Information:
- 1808 – Congress authorized $2,000 to build the lighthouse. It would be the first lighthouse built in the United States outside of the original 13 colonies.
- 1811 – Lighthouse completed and station established.
- 1813 – Original lamp replaced by street lamp from New Orleans.
- 1837 – Original tower swept away in a storm.
- 1839 – Light installed in new lighthouse.
- 1854 – Sagging tower fortified.
- 1856 – New, pre-fabricated screwpile lighthouse put into place.
- 1860 – Hurricane irreparably damaged lighthouse
- 1869 – Replacement lighthouse erected on original screwpiles.
- 1878 – Lighthouse discontinued at this location.
Keepers:
- A.B. Shelby (1856 – unknown)
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.