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Biloxi Lighthouse

Biloxi, Mississippi

All Photos © Tim N. Touchton

Each photograph is available as an 8x10 for a cost of $ 12.00
plus $2.00 shipping. Check or money order only please.

Since I live so close to the Biloxi Lighthouse, I have taken many photographs of it
with different skies and even at Christmas time. I don't know the exact dates of these
photographs other than they have all been taken in the 1999 and 2000 on four different
occasions. It's a little tiny lighthouse for this area. It is right in the middle of Highway 90
with traffic going on both sides of the lighthouse. It sits back about 200 feet from the water
and beach.

The sign by the pier parking lot across the street from the lighthouse.

Information about the Biloxi Lighthouse:

This lighthouse was built in 1848 just off the beach waterfront. It is constructed
of a brick foundation covered by cast iron and painted white. The tower height
is only 61 feet and the original optic was a Fifth-Order Fresnel lens, which was
later replaced by a Fourth-Order Fresnel lens in 1926.

In 1867 the tower was one of a few iron lighthouses to be covered with black
coal tar to keep the lighthouse from rusting. However, since it was difficult to
see the "black" lighthouse in the daytime from the surrounding trees, in 1869 it
was again painted white.

The lighthouse is presently owned by the City of Biloxi and is still active as an
aid to navigation. It is very easy to visit the lighthouse since it is in the median
between the east and west bound lanes of US Highway 90 and parking is just a
few feet away.

Text of a Historic Marker beside the sign above:

Constructed in sections by the firm of Murray and
Hazelhurst of Baltimore, Maryland, the Biloxi Lighthouse
arrived at this location aboard the brig General North and
was erected in 1848. A cast iron sheath lined with locally
made brick, the 48 foot tower is one of the few of its
type remaining on the Gulf of Mexico. It was illuminated
by a fourth order Fresnel lens visible at a distance of 13
nautical miles.

The original site of the light was a sand bluff. Neglect
during the war years and the subsequent failure of a
retaining wall in 1867 caused the tower to lean two feet
off center. In danger of toppling into the Mississippi
Sound, the tower was righted by excavating under the
north side. Also heavily rusted the tower was given a
coating of black coal tar, thus giving rise to the popular
myth that the community had painted the structure black
to mourn the death of Lincoln. The lighthouse was
repainted white to make it stand out against the dark
green pine woods.

During most of its existence as an active station, the
Biloxi Lighthouse was uniquely tended by females,
beginning with Mary Reynolds in 1854, Maria
Younghans assumed duties in 1867 and was succeeded
by her daughter Miranda in 1920. The light was
electrified in 1926.

Deeded to the City of Biloxi by the United States Coast
Guard in 1968, the Biloxi Lighthouse is a National
Historic Landmark, a Mississippi State Landmark, and is
listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

City of Biloxi Historical Marker