The Guardian Light

Round Island

Lighthouse from tragedy to triumph

Words by Roxann Rankin Wicker

Top Left: Round Island, 1984.

Middle: Author, 8th birthday at Round Island, Below: Author, hiding on stairwell at Round Island photos courtesy of Joe Rankin Collection.

One could argue I have had saltwater running through my veins since birth. I was born the day before Thanksgiving in 1976, and by New Year’s Eve, I was strapped into a makeshift car seat on the bow of my Daddy’s old wooden skiff. He set out to Round Island Lighthouse just off the banks of the Mississippi Sound in Pascagoula to capture his baby girl’s maiden voyage to the shore.

Each year for my birthday we would make our tradition ‘run out to Round,’ which lasted until I was eight or nine. Back in those days, Round Island Lighthouse was just off the edge of the shore, she stood abandoned with her beacon dimmed. There was a magnificence about the tower of light to my youthful eyes. Her bold, blackened cupola set against the clear, cloudless skies starkly contrasted with her ombre sand and clay-colored brick and mortar. The doorway was long forgotten, the spiral stairwell damaged, but accessible, the Innkeeper’s quarters destroyed by fire and the lookout bridge, a menacing risk. It was romantic and rugged at the same time. To the tomboy in me, it was an adventure I dreamed of as my celebration of life came full circle. As I aged, my Daddy and his favored buddies would tag along while I played on the beach searching and scouring for any evidence of wayward times in part from scallywags, remnants of old war memorabilia, buried treasure and anything else I could find myself into.

My Daddy was a novice local historian, a photographer and lover of Polaroid lenses, an artist and a lighthouse connoisseur. Not only was this his most admired lighthouse, but it was also the lighthouse for which he was most knowledgeable. In the late 1980s, the lighthouse was still standing on the rock-bedded shoreline – where it stood for over 100 years. However, erosion was taking its toll on the old gal. To my amazement, I learned she was the second lighthouse on the island. The first had not been well constructed for the sand and sea of the Mississippi seasonal changes.

Opposite: Round Island photo courtesy of Pascagoula Public Library Historical

In 1831, Congress appropriated funding for the Gulf Coast region to construct a lighthouse in Pascagoula. This lighthouse would be constructed for a whopping $5,895 (over $200,000 today) and awarded to the highest contract bidder. The original lighthouse was completed in 1833. Unfortunately, coupled with poor construction, erosion, shifting shorelines and hurricane winds, the original lighthouse only survived 20 years of service.

The most significant historical event may have occurred on Round Island in 1849 – a military standoff between the U.S. Navy and mercenaries planning a forcible release of Cuba from Spain. Narciso Lopez, a former Venezuelan colonel in the Spanish army, and his assembly of several hundred men established a camp on the island to await supplies and orders. President Zachary Taylor ordered arrests and prosecution of those who attempted to violate the U.S. neutrality law, dispatching three U.S. Navy ships outfitted with unarmed enlistees to blockade the island and declare martial law. The standoff ended on September 5, 1849, lasting only a few weeks when U.S. Navy Commander Victor Randolph lifted the blockade due to threats of legal action by the state of Mississippi. Out of supplies, and mosquito-bitten, the would-be mercenaries disbanded and went home.

In 1859, the second brick beacon was constructed and stood as a beloved terminal for boaters and seafarers heading to the island. This new, 50-foot lighthouse was outfitted with a keeper’s quarter and an oil-burning Fresnel lens that could stretch her visible reach to 12 nautical miles. The fourth-order Fresnel lens was removed during the Civil War and later relit after it made its way home from Birmingham for protection. The second lighthouse would stand tall, her lantern gallery posed atop the statuesque guardian on land until her demise at the hands of Hurricane Georges in 1998.

Hurricane Georges’ wake slowly plowed over the 150-year-old lighthouse; my beloved memories toppled into the Mississippi Sound. The lantern gallery corroded in sand bed brine wasting away in the salt water. The only remnant left was the base of the lighthouse with twothirds of the original brick still holding on. The scene was evidence of a story that would carry on, even in the reign of destruction. A lighthouse rebuild was advocated by a group of residents of the community, known as the Round Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, which raised enough funding to have the remains moved and part of the structure reset onto the island until Hurricane Katrina destroyed the temporary structure in 2005.

Following Hurricane Katrina, an undertaking to recover and rebuild the lighthouse began almost immediately. A barge loaded with the base brought up from the muckladen shoreline hauled in as much salvaged material as possible to recreate the lighthouse to its last model. With help from a preservation committee pushing for grant funding, sponsorships and donations, the friend that once stood with valor as mariners departed the sound would find a new home as a welcome beacon into the City of Pascagoula.

Projects began to take form. The first phase began with the staging area of the brick base. Then the lantern gallery had to be recovered. Unfortunately, only portions of the gallery were salvaged. During this phase, the base was relocated from the staging area, and foundations were poured for the lighthouse to be housed at the City’s designated landmark, the base of the Pascagoula Bridge and Highway 90. The city planned the lighthouse to be a part of the new boat launch, newly grant-funded walking trail and sidewalk and mixed-use area coming to the riverfront. The stately and steady tower was one step closer to breathing life back into the community.

By early fall of 2010, five large steel beams had been driven into the 50-foot sand layer to support the lighthouse. The beams were cut, leveled and the caisson received its cement cap. Next, the lantern room was awarded for construction and so began the design and construction. The salvaged chunks of brick that had been recovered and stored were now ready to be renewed and used in the reconstruction of the new lighthouse. By May 2013, the replica lantern room was installed and, two months later, the original and replica brickwork was completed.

The last phase was the construction of the interior of the lighthouse. The former interior was the work of vandals, fires and other endured battle wounds. However, this would become completely outfitted with new walls, a new stairwell and fresh new mortar and sealant. The last piece of the lighthouse was to replicate the fourth-order Fresnel lens. With funding from various sources, including Tidelands and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, a replicated fourth-order Fresnel lens illuminated the lighthouse on November 13, 2015.

Today, the lighthouse serves a new generation of passersby. It stands tall and serves as starlight at night and is calm to the visitors and residents of Pascagoula during the day. The Round Island Lighthouse is the symbol you see as you navigate your way onward to Pascagoula, providing a whitewash light upon the horizon it reminds you of the watchful overseer that remains constant for your everyday journey. She is anchored in hope and resilience and can provide new memories of a place bathed in fond full smiles, tearful pride and unshattered beauty every season.