Cat Island Light

Cat Island Light guided shipping through the Mississippi Sound from a low, storm-prone island off the Mississippi coast. First built in 1831 as a conical brick tower, it suffered from poor siting and erosion, with hurricanes repeatedly damaging the station. Its lighting equipment was upgraded before the Civil War, but the tower was burned by Confederate forces, and its surviving parts were later reused for other lights. In 1871 a replacement screw-pile lighthouse, better suited to shifting coastal conditions, was erected, yet storms and erosion remained persistent problems. The light was discontinued in 1937 as vessel traffic moved farther south, and its iron foundation still remains as a hazard and local fishing spot.

Pass Christian, Mississippi · United States