Sabine Pass Lighthouse
Louisiana Side of Sabine Pass

The lighthouse was constructed in 1856 on a mud flat that was only 3 feet above high tide. It is constructed of brick, and because of the ground, has eight concrete buttresses to give it stability. There are four long buttresses, which extend 20 feet from the base and four smaller buttresses that extend about 18 feet from the outside wall. This gives it the appearance of a rocket ship. The tower has an octagonal shape and a height of 75 feet.  The wall, at the base of the tower is one foot thick with an inside diameter of eight feet. The lighthouse was originally painted white. Then in the late 1930s, it was painted white with black stripes, which through the years have faded to a gray. The original lens was a third order Fresnel, which has long since been removed. The keepers quarters burned in 1976.

The station was deactivated in 1952 and ownership transferred to the State of Louisiana, two years later. In 1986 the property was transferred into private ownership. On May 5, 2001, the property was donated to the Cameron Preservation Alliance - Sabine Pass Lighthouse, Inc. by the previous owners, Houston businessmen Jon Gernadier and W. E. Pielop, Jr.  Efforts are underway, by this group, to preserve the lighthouse.

The lighthouse can be seen at a distance from Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Park at Sabine Pass, Texas.  Also, there is now a road to the lighthouse site that is open part of the time. To access the road, turn onto the road leading to the refinery, which is located about one-half mile east of the Sabine Pass causeway.  At the guard shack, take the road to the left side.  You cannot access the lighthouse since there is a bayou between the road and the lighthouse, but it is only about 100 feet from the bayou.

Thanks go to William Quick, Historian in Nederland, Texas and Ryle Adams for many of the dates and pieces of detailed information.

View of the lighthouse from the land side.
Another view from the land side.
View of the building remains.
Photo of working Sabine Pass Light Station

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