Round Island Lighthouse

Round Island (Pascagoula), 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.


I took this photograph in August 2000 while on another boating trip with Sam, his son
Jonathan, and my son Richard.. We were on a fishing trip off the Gulf side of Horn Island
off of southern Mississippi. It is, well to put it perfectly, a very sad sight. The first time I saw
this lighthouse was about the same time the previous year while on a fishing trip with the same
folks. As we were heading out to Horn Island that year I saw what appeared to be the lower
shape of a lighthouse off to my left. I was told by Sam that the island is Round Island and that
there used to be a lighthouse on the south end of the island. I just stared in wonder at what I was
looking at. He hadn't made plans on this trip to take a "detour" so the next fishing trip out he decided
to take me to it "after" he was finished with his fishing. It was a good fishing trip, very enjoyable and
the climax of the trip was the visit to Round Island. We got off the boat and explored the island, where
bricks of the "fallen soldier" are scattered about everywhere. The lighthouse met it's master in October
1998, and it's master had a name, Hurricane Georges. The lighthouse has been stabilized and mounted on
a metal base and partially buried with sand. The southern end of the island has been dredged about it and
the sand replaced all along it's southern shore. (This part of the island was slowly washing away over the
years and Hurricane Georges pretty well took what was left.) It left the lighthouse broken in half, bricks
scattered everywhere and the bottom half lying in the water and tilted to it's side. A horrible site for all of us
who are lighthouse enthusiasts. There is now a sign on the broken side that says, "Sorry We're Closed".
The side that had been in the water for so long has white barnacles all over the brick. My son found what
seemed to be steps of bricks buried just inches below the sand, about 50 or 60 feet from the lighthouse.
We are not sure what it actually was, perhaps the steps to the keepers house or part of the original cistern.

The lighthouse now also had a "construction" red ribbon fence surrounding it, which made taking a decent
photograph very difficult. I could have stayed for hours exploring the island for "history" and just thinking about the
poor lighthouse and what it's been through. There is a group called, "Committee to Save Round Island Lighthouse"
that had started making plans on saving the little tower just prior to the hurricane taking the poor soul down. They
had already had made a breakwater by the lighthouse to help protect it from the damaging waves in the area. I
don't know where the lantern room ended up after the storm and they have the door boarded up so you cannot
see inside what's left. (Again, for the Harbour Lights collectors, the Round Island Lighthouse #242, 2000
pretty well properly displays the "before" and "after" appearance of the little lighthouse. I also have
this collectable.)
I highly recommend everyone to take a trip to this lighthouse. You won't forget it!

Jonathan throwing the cast net in a lagoon at Horn Island


Sam with his boat at Horn Island

Rich beside what's left of the old lighthouse

Barnacles on the side of the lighthouse
from when it was on it's side in the water after the hurricane.

The "Sorry We're Closed" sign on the lighthouse.


Round Island Lighthouse (what's left of it) 2 years after the hurricane.


I have seen photographs on the Internet of this lighthouse before the storm damage. You need to take
a gander at these other sites of Round Island Lighthouse. The "before" pictures make you wonder
about how it got to it's present state.

Facts about Round Island Lighthouse:

The first lighthouse on Round Island was built in 1853 and survived several storms but was too close
to the water, so it was destroyed to build a new one on higher ground. The current lighthouse was built
in 1859 and was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1946. The lighthouse is on the National Historic
Register and the island is owned by the City of Pascagoula. Several other strong storms have hit this part of
the Mississippi Gulf Coast, perhaps weakening this little lighthouse. In 1860 a hurricane hit the area and the
keeper and his family spent several days in the lighthouse without supplies, food or water. Round Island had
been devastated by this storm and every building, including the keepers house, had disappeared from the island.
Another hurricane hit the area in 1906 and the keeper out lasted the storm by staying in the lighthouse, just as his
predecessor had done.

Please visit the following link:
Round Island Lighthouse Preservation Society

 

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