Tchefuncte Lighthouse, Madisonville, Louisiana
Posted by: 
rpecot
N 30° 22.780 W 090° 10.143
15R E 772047 N 3364257
Tchefuncte River Lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain.
Waymark Code: WMGZF
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2006
Views: 94
The lighthouse is accessible by boat only. Here is a little history, cut and pasted from www.lighthousefriends.com:
The original lighthouse was built in 1838, but was dismantled and rebuilt due to extensive damage it recieved during the Civil War. The second tower rose ten feet taller than the first, and a bell tower and square keeper’s tower were built on the point next to the lighthouse. The lantern room from the destroyed Cat Island Lighthouse was used to cap the new lighthouse. After a year of construction, the light from a fifth-order Fresnel lens was exhibited in 1868 by keeper William A. Stewart, who served aboard the USS Richmond, which was part of Farragut’s fleet that that bravely steamed past Fort Morgan and won the Battle of Mobile Bay.
A storm in 1888 swept away the station’s kitchen, outhouses, woodshed, and picket fence. At some point, a single vertical black stripe was painted on the tower. This stripe likely functioned as a range indicator of sorts, to help captains line up their approach to the river.
In the 1950s, after the light was automated in 1952, the keeper’s dwelling was moved upstream to the town of Madisonville. Today, the house sits just behind the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.