Photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com
The lighthouse at the entrance to the Tchefuncte (pronounced “she funk tee”) River was built in 1837 to guide ships across Lake Ponchartrain, Louisiana, to the port in Madisonville, Louisiana.
Built on low-lying land, the area of the lighthouse and its other buildings like the keeper’s house, the fog signal, outside kitchen, woodshed and outhouses, were subject to flooding during storms. More than once the breakwater around the lighthouse area was rebuilt over the years.
The swampy area of the lighthouse provided pets for one keeper. Benjamin Thurston, the first keeper of the lighthouse, had pet alligators.
Photo courtesy US Coast Guard
Frederick A. Schrieber, who served as keeper from 1920 to 1935, lived at the lighthouse with his wife Lilla and their seven children. Schrieber had to pay seventy-five cents a day for his children to take the ferry to school, which was quite expensive during that time. A visiting inspector requested that the government pay the fare which would be cheaper than hiring a teacher to live at the lighthouse station at a monthly salary of $30.
In July 1915, a hurricane struck the station when seventy-three-year-old Keeper Joseph P. Groux was in his twenty-sixth year of service at the lighthouse. The Secretary of Commerce commended Keeper Groux for maintaining the light under hazardous and trying conditions.
The last keeper left in 1939, and the light was solarized in 1952, and the keeper’s cottage was sold and moved into the town of Madisonville where it was used as a private office. The lighthouse was neglected and a target of vandals until the town gained ownership of the property from the Coast Guard in 1999. A group of volunteers formed with plans to restore the lighthouse, and in 2008, the first phase of its efforts began with repairing and repainting.
This month, after years of effort by the town of Madisonville and the volunteer organization, the lighthouse has received a special gift. The Gulf of Mexico Security Act is sending $1.6 million to shore up the Tchefuncte River Lighthouse and the eroded land around it. Plans are in place to add a pier to the property so that tourists may visit the lighthouse when the restoration is finished.
The Tchefuncte River Lighthouse is a very thankful lighthouse this Thanksgiving.
z“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” Psalm 118:29
Very interesting. My favorite Lighthouse is on Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota. We took family vacations there seven eral summers when we lived 110 miles south of there. Fun to walk out to. I don’t remember all its history except from the song of “The Edmund Fitzgerald”.
My favorite memory is from Fisgard Lighthouse built in 1860 in Colwood, British Columbia, Canada. When I visited with my childhood friend in Seattle she took me to see lighthouses along the Oregon Coast up through parts of Canada. We visited Fisgard which was undergoing refurbishment. This was the first lighthouse built on the west coast of Canada. During our tour I met a gentleman who had been a keeper at the lighthouse. His name is Penrod Brown. We enjoyed chatting and visiting together. Near the end of our visit Penrod and I decided to exchange addresses and write to each other. I had a marvelous time writing to Mr. Brown and receiving letters from him. This was a lovely experience as a result of my visit to the lighthouse on Esquimalt Harbour.
My best memories are of Fisgard Lighthouse on Equismalt Harbour in British Columbia, Canada. I visited my childhood friend Linda in Seattle. She took me on a tour of the lighthouses along the west coast of Oregon and British Columbia. During our tour of Fisgard I met Mr. Penrod Brown who had been a keeper at this lighthouse. We enjoyed chatting and he told me of several experiences during his tenure at Fisgard. Penrod and I agreed to write letters to each other. We wrote for a few years. It was a pleasure to write to and receive letters from Mr. Brown.