The first New Canal Lighthouse was built in 1839 at the entrance of the New Basin Canal at Lake Pontchartrain. This structure was a cypress tower with a lantern on top, set on pilings, about 1,000 feet offshore, however, it wasn't long before the timbers began to rot. In 1855, a one-story wood dwelling was built on screwpiles with a lantern on top of the roof. In 1880, the Southern Yacht Club was moved from Biloxi, MS to New Orleans and the building blocked the lighthouse light. In 1890, a new two-story building, 16 feet higher, on top of the original iron piles, had been constructed. By the early 1900's, several projects had been undertaken on the lakefront, including the construction of a peninsula, on which the lighthouse was moved. Lighthouse keepers operated the light until the 1960's, when the U.S. Coast Guard began using the building as their home and took over the operation of the lighthouse. The Coast Guard called the lighthouse home until 2002, when a new facility was built not far away.
In the years before the Coast Guard took over, there were several women of note on the list of lighthouse keepers: Elizabeth Beattie was appointed in 1847, after her husband, the station's first keeper, died; likewise, Jane O'Driscol took over after her husband's death in 1850; Mary Campbell was the keeper from 1870 - 1895; Caroline Riddle took over in 1895 - Caroline Riddle was commended for heroism for keeping the light lit during a hurricane; Maggie Norvell relieved Riddle in 1924 - she once saved 200 people by rowing them ashore during a fire on an excursion boat.
As the pictures further down the page illustrate, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita severely damaged the historic lighthouse in 2005. After the storms, much of the building, though damaged badly, was still standing, until a cold front came through a few months later, at which time, the building collapsed.
Thanks to the efforts of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, a replacement lighthouse - using salvaged material from the original when possible - has been constructed. The rebuilt lighthouse is now a museum and education center, focusing on the ecology of the Pontchartrain Basin and the history of the New Orleans maritime industry, as well as, the lighthouse. |
