South Pass Light stands on Gordon’s Island at a major entrance from the Gulf into the Mississippi Delta and has long guided ships bound for the river and New Orleans. Established in 1831, the station began with a fragile wooden structure that was repeatedly damaged by logs, storms, decay, and rebuilding on unstable ground. A taller wooden tower followed, and in the 1850s its light could be seen for twelve miles. Extinguished by Confederates in 1861 and relit by Union forces the next year, it was replaced by the present 105-foot iron-skeleton lighthouse, first lit in 1881. Automated in 1971, it remains an active aid to navigation and survived Hurricane Katrina.