The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The state of Louisiana is located on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River. New Orleans, located on the river about 100 miles (160 km) above the mouth, is the state's largest port; other ports along the south coast serve offshore oil platforms. The state's coastline is everywhere low and marshy, posing a challenge for lighthouse builders. Named for King Louis XIV, Louisiana was founded with the first settlements at Natchitoches in 1714 and at New Orlens in 1718. The colony was transferred to Spain in 1762, returned to France in 1801, and then sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Organized initially as the Territory of Orleans, Louisiana was admitted to the Union as the 16th state in 1812. On 29 August 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and all of the eastern half of the Louisiana coast. On 24 September Hurricane Rita swept through Cameron Parish at the western end of the state, swamping most of the coast that Katrina had missed. These twin disasters left Louisiana reeling. The New Canal Light in New Orleans was badly damaged and later collapsed. The historic Chandeleur lighthouse and the old West Rigolets lighthouse vanished completely. But this was in a state where lighthouses have been gravely endangered and failing for a long time. In addition to New Canal, Chandeleur, and West Rigolets Lights, the Point au Fer Reef, Timbalier Bay, Oyster Bay, Frank's Island, Pass Manchac, and Southwest Pass Entrance Lights have all been lost in the last 30 years, and there remain five more Louisiana lighthouses on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List. (Note: here and elsewhere in the Directory the symbol # indicates a lighthouse lost since 2000.) Navigational aids in the United States are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. Louisiana lights are the responsibility of the Coast Guard's Eighth District based in New Orleans. Sector New Orleans covers most of the state while Sector Houston-Galveston manages the southwestern coast. There are Aids to Navigation teams based at New Orleans, Venice, Dulac, Morgan City, and Sabine Pass. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from Volume IV of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List. |
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![]() (destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005) Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Lsuff |
Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans Area Lighthouses
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![]() Pass Manchac Light (now lost), Lake Pontchartrain, 12 October 2005 photo copyright Matthew Barkley; used by permission |
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![]() 1896 Chandeleur Light (now lost), St. Bernard Parish, ca. 1986 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Patrick Feller |
Plaquemines Parish (Mississippi Delta) Lighthouses
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![]() South Pass Light, Mississippi Delta, July 2009 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Tom McNeely; used by permission |
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![]() 1839 Southwest Pass Light, Mississippi Delta photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission |
South Coast Lighthouses
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![]() Ship Shoal Light, Gulf of Mexico photo by Newell Slaughter for Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation |
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![]() Sabine Pass East Jetty Light, Cameron Parish photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission |
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Information on lost lighthouses:
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![]() Southwest Pass Entrance Light, Plaquemines Parish photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission |
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Mississippi | West: Southeast Texas
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index
Posted November 23, 2002. Checked and revised November 9, 2024. Lighthouses: 39. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.