The Horn Island Light (in later years also known as the Petit Bois Light) was a lighthouse in
Mississippi originally located at the eastern end of
Horn Island. Moved and rebuilt several times, it was deactivated and abandoned in 1961.
History
Horn Island and Petit Bois Island are part of a chain of
barrier islands separating the sound from the
Gulf of Mexico; the passage between them, the Horn Island Pass, is the most direct route to Pascagoula by water. To guide ships through the pass, the first Horn Island Light was erected in 1874,
a wooden house on a
screwpile foundation. In what would become a recurring theme it was moved in 1880 due to erosion.
The second light was built on the island in 1887, a square house with
dormer
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
s and a lantern on the roof.
It too was moved in 1900 (the old abandoned light having succumbed to a storm in 1893), and was utterly destroyed by the
1906 Mississippi hurricane
The 1906 Mississippi hurricane was a deadly and destructive hurricane during the 1906 Atlantic hurricane season. The fourth hurricane of the season, the system was originally observed in the western Caribbean on September 22; however, Atlantic h ...
, killing keeper Charles Johnsson, his wife, and his daughter.
Johnsson had been offered a ride with his family to safety but had refused, citing his duty to keep the beacon lit; his body was found after the storm, but those of his wife and daughter were never recovered.
A new light was not constructed until 1908, and at a new location in the sound at the west end of Petit Bois Island. This light was still officially named the Horn Island Light but due to its location was also called the Petit Bois Light.
It was another small house, this time on a platform of piles, equipped with a fourth order
Fresnel lens.
It was automated in 1951 and discontinued in 1961 in favor of range lights which are still in use.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Mississippi
*
List of lighthouses in the United States
References
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Lighthouses in Mississippi
Lighthouses completed in 1874
1874 establishments in Mississippi
Lighthouses completed in 1887
Buildings and structures demolished in 1906
Lighthouses completed in 1908
Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Mississippi