By Garry Mitchell, Associated Press
Dauphin Island, AL – The Sand Island Lighthouse, a lonely sentinel from a faded era of shipping commerce in the Gulf of Mexico, has survived more than a century of hurricanes and violent waves, but its future is precarious.
Like others built in the Gulf and Atlantic after the Civil War, the 126-foot circular tower whose light once guided sailors at the entrance to Mobile Bay is now in need of costly repairs.
Constructed in 1873, it sits atop a man-made mound of granite stones jutting above Gulf waters Sand Island literally has been washed away from it.
It is cracked and decaying and erosion remains a threat, but it is regarded by preservationists as a historic treasure. Three miles out from Dauphin Island, it is envisioned as a potential tourist attraction, like many others around the country. Engineers marvel at its design.
The Sand Island Lighthouse is a "testament to 19th Century engineering and construction," which allows the tower to sway a little in stormy winds, said masonry expert Michael Davidson of the Mississippi Stone Guild in Eupora, Miss.
"It has not only survived the Katrina of this century, but Katrinas of the last centuries," Davidson said. "Had they used modern materials and methods it would not be standing."
Others around the Gulf and Atlantic were not so lucky. Louisiana's small Chandeleur Island Lighthouse was toppled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Searchers found no trace of it after the storm. Others in Louisiana and South Carolina are being resotred.
Such projects underline America's love of lighthouses and the historic significance of those that remain on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, where hundreds once served as vital navigation aids before the Civil War.
During the Civil War, Confederate troops destroyed some of the towers or took out the light to keep them out of Union hands. The lighthouse on Sand Island, which served a Gulf route protected by Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, was among them, blown up by explosives in 1861.
Rebuilt in 1873, it remained in service until deactivated by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1933, and slowly began to deteriorate.
Jack Granade, a Mobile engineer who has worked on a plan to save the lighthouse, said it's cracked down two sides, but the foundation appears intact. Twenty-eight feet in diameter at its base, its brick walls are six feet thick near the foundation.
A long-term lighthouse restoration could cost millions of dollars, but Granade said the first step is to stabilize the tower and prevent further decay.