Lydia Ann Channel Light
( Aransas Pass Light )
Port Aransas, Texas
Lydia Ann Channel Light
( Aransas Pass Light )
Port Aransas, Texas
This lighthouse is known by at least three different names. It was originally the Aransas Pass Lighthouse. After it was purchased by a private party, it was renovated, relit as a private aid to navigation and renamed Lydia Ann Channel Light. It is also known to many of the locals as St. Jo Light.After several plans were drawn and rejected, beginning in 1851 when congress appropriated $12,500 for a lighthouse, the station was finally established in 1855. The lighthouse was completed in 1857, with the original optic being a fourth order Fresnel lens. This lens is now on display at the Port Aransas Civic Center.
After sustaining damage in the Civil War, restorations began in 1866, with the tower being relit on April 15, 1867. In 1916, the keeper's dwelling and all outhouses were blown away in a hurricane. A new dwelling was completed in 1919.
The lighthouse, 68 feet tall, is octagonal and constructed of red brick. It was deactivated in 1952 after a major channel shift left the station a mile from the channel entrance. It is now owned by Mr. Charles Butt, owner of the HEB grocery store chain.
The light is visible, from a distance, at a few locations on Cotter Street in Port Aransas, Texas. There are dolphin and nature tours that leave from Woody's Sports Center, in Port Aransas, that will take you close to the lighthouse.
