Digest>Archives> Jul/Aug 2013

Isle Ronde Rendezvous

By Pat Biggs

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Round Island Lighthouse, Mississippi undergoing ...
Photo by: Alfred King III

The day after Mother’s Day, Monday, May 13, 2013 was a bonus for many Mississippi Moms who love lighthouses. It was the dedication celebration of the topping ceremony for the Round Island Lighthouse in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

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The 6,000 pound restored lantern room of ...

Isle Ronde was the French explorers’ name for the island three miles offshore of Pascagoula where in 1833 the first Round Island light tower was erected, but the construction was shoddy, and in 1859 a new tower was erected a short distance from the original. The tower was 44 feet in height and was illuminated by a fourth order Fresnel.

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Rebuilding Mississippi’s Round Island Lighthouse ...
Photo by: Pat Biggs

Like most western Gulf lighthouses along hurricane alley, Pascagoula had its share of battering and fatalities. But overall, Round Island Lighthouse quietly served its duties without notoriety. Documenting its true history has been difficult because many keepers were not too literate although proficient at keeping a good light. District and Washington bureaucrats also “enhanced” the reports to protect the incompetents and glorify themselves. Adding insult to injury, a low level Washington clerk could not spell Mississippi correctly.

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Mayor Robbie Maxwell addressed the crowd at the ...
Photo by: Pat Biggs

There is also undocumented oral history implying that Aaron Burr was up to international mischief on a visit to Round Island prior to the Civil War. Burr reputedly was plotting an invasion of Cuba and Mexico in a plot against Spain. Ironically. it was Aaron Burr who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel of honor on an island near New York City. Hamilton had been George Washington’s Treasury Secretary and the first man in charge of our nation’s Lighthouse Establishment as well as the Revenue Cutter Service, one of the forerunners of the U.

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The official tee-shirt of the Topping Ceremony of ...
Photo by: Pat Biggs

S. Coast Guard.

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Lolly Barnes of the Mississippi Heritage Trust ...
Photo by: Pat Biggs

Despite local preservation efforts, the base around Round Island Lighthouse at its original location eroded and the bricks tumbled into the Gulf. However, Pascagoula preservationists retrieved most of the bricks from the Gulf Bottomlands in order to recreate the tower. Cape St. George, Florida set the example for the Round Island recovery.

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Lolly Barnes, of the Mississippi Heritage Trust, reminded those in attendance that “the lighthouse was one of the top ten endangered structures” in the state. Mayor Robbie Maxwell put it very poignantly: “It was a four year project to find a home for the lighthouse and for those coming to Pascagoula that they too had found a home.” Jen Dearman, Community and Development Director, indicated that the tower work would be completed this autumn and there would be public access and group tours. jdearman@cityofpascagoula.com

The Round Island Lighthouse transplant site is on Highway 90 at the east end of the Veterans Memorial Bridge at Pascagoula St, one mile east of Ingalls Shipyard and the USCG Station.

To learn more about Round Island Lighthouse, please refer to the November 1998, December 2010, January/February 2011, and the September/October 2012 back issue of Lighthouse Digest. Those stories can also be found in the on-line archives at www.LighthouseDigest.com.

This story appeared in the Jul/Aug 2013 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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