West Rigolets Lighthouse

West Rigolets, Louisiana

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 and I'm not very happy with it.
This lighthouse is one that you can easily overlook if you are not making
an effort to find it. I drove from Mobile west on Interstate 10 and got on
Hwy 90 just east of the Mississippi/Louisiana border. I headed west on 90
until I came to Pearl River. Fort Pike is just west of the bridge over Pearl
River and as you approach the bridge look to your right and off at the edge
of some wetlands, just at the rivers edge, is what remains of the West
Rigolets Lighthouse. It is in very sad disrepair and is in need of major help.
I took this photograph from the eastern side of the bridge facing north. I
used my Canon 75-300 mm USM lens and I still couldn't get close enough
for a good photograph. As you come along Hwy 90 west in Louisiana you
cross several small bridges, very thin laned bridges along wetlands on both sides.
The Pearl River Bridge is also a very thin laned bridge and traffic has to cross
slowly and carefully. The Rigolets are channels that connect Lake Ponchartrain
to the Mississippi Sound east of New Orleans and south of Interstate 10.

I crossed the bridge just when a boat was coming through and the draw
bridge opened, which gave me time to run down the bridge and take a few
photographs from the bridge, but you could see a large subdivision behind
it and it did not make for a good photograph. I stayed at Fort Pike for a while
in hopes that a fisherman would come launch his boat and take me for a little
trip to the lighthouse, but nobody was fishing that day. I shall return this year
and simply wait at the boat launch at Fort Pike until a nice fisherman agrees to
give me a ride to the lighthouse. It's only a 5 minute boat ride and I'd like to climb
on this one to get some nice close up photographs. My day will come and I'll
finally get this one in my collection and posted on the Internet for other lighthouse
lovers. I also drove through a very nice subdivision on the other side of the river in
order to get a better look. However there is no way to get a good photograph or better
look at it from the subdivision without getting on someone's private property, so that
did not work out. But, the houses in this neighborhood are simply beautiful.

Specifics about the West Rigolets Lighthouse:

Established in 1855 as a guide into the Rigolets.
Lighthouse height: 30 feet
Decommissioned in 1945
Lighthouse keeper murdered during the Civil War
Material: wood

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