In 1858 the Mobile Point Lighthouse received a new fourth-order Fresnel lens and its status was confirmed as a harbor light. In mid-1861 the lens was removed for safekeeping and shipped to Montgomery, AL. In 1864 the brick lighthouse tower became the target for Union artillery during the siege of Fort Morgan. When the Fort surrendered on Aug 23, 1864 the lighthouse had suffered irreparable damage and the old brick tower was demolished. At the end of the war a temporary wooden tower was built and housed the fourth-order Fresnel lens.
In 1873 a new iron lattice-work 30-foot tower, pictured above, was erected. The 1858 fourth-order Fresnel lens was placed in the lighthouse's lantern room. The light served as a guide to mariners until 1966 when it was extinguished and deactivated.
At the time of my visit here in 2000, the lighthouse remained inactive.
4 comments:
Hi Al,
This looks like an oil rig. So different from the New England lighthouses. My niece lives in Mobile. I'll have to see if she has been to this lighthouse.
Imagine using a lighthouse for target practice? Don't their function and mission make them sacred? Then add to those their value as spiritual symbols. You have the makings of a case for having them declared more worthy of esteem than Congress.
Richard; During the Civil War I don't believe there was the same respect or thought for a lighthouse as we have today. Now days, communities and local governments try to preserve their lighthouses and the history of them. It's a shame the lighthouse was shelled and destroyed but that event was one of many wounds/deaths of that war.
Hi Judy; Except for the top of the lighthouse, the lantern room, it does remind one of an oil rig.
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