At a place long recognized as the geographic and navigational fulcrum of the Mississippi River, Head of Passes Lighthouse stood for nearly a century as both guide and witness to one of North America’s most unstable landscapes. Located on Deer Island at the point where the Mississippi divides into its principal outlets—Pass à l’Outre, South Pass, and Southwest Pass—the station marked what river pilots came to regard as the “Greenwich Meridian” of the Mississippi. All distances on river charts were measured “AHOP,” or Above Head of Passes, acknowledging the site’s fixed importance even as the delta itself crept steadily seaward.

Map showing Head of Passes Photograph courtesy National Archives

Long before the United States established a formal lighthouse there, Head of Passes had strategic value. French colonial authorities built an early outpost a mile or two below the site, probably on South Pass, before relocating to Northeast Pass at La Balize. By the early nineteenth century, the location was already essential to river traffic, and some form of government light appears to have been operating on Deer Island as early as 1836. In that year, David B. Ahern was employed—likely as a lamplighter—suggesting that rudimentary navigation aids were already in use.

Pressure from Louisiana’s legislature led Congress to appropriate funds in September 1850 for a proper lighthouse at or near the Head of the South or Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River. A contract was let in 1851, and construction proceeded during the winter of 1851–1852. The resulting structure was an iron tower patterned after Biloxi Lighthouse, rising approximately sixty-seven feet—taller than the lights at the river’s primary mouths—yet paradoxically ineffective.

Head of Passes Lighthouse was intended to shine above the dense springtime river fog, but in practice it failed both ocean-going vessels and river traffic. From salt water it was invisible on even the clearest days, while river pilots could not steer toward it in the winding channel. Fog often rendered the light useless except for lookouts stationed high in ship masts.

There is some evidence that this iron tower was unique among American lighthouses. The contractor, John J. McCaughan of Mississippi City, submitted plans based on a British-export lighthouse erected at Barbados. Although Treasury officials rejected the original design due to insufficient plate thickness near the base, McCaughan was permitted to order heavier iron—apparently from a British foundry. If so, Head of Passes Lighthouse may have been the only lighthouse ever imported into the United States.

By 1853, the Lighthouse Board had decided to remove the iron tower entirely. Congress appropriated $6,000 to establish a smaller beacon at Head of Passes and to relocate the iron lighthouse to Pass à l’Outre, where it was rebuilt and re-lit in 1855. At Head of Passes, the keeper’s dwelling was modified with a dormer window displaying three reflector lamps upriver. In 1854, these reflectors were replaced by a quarter-fraction sixth-order Fresnel lens, marking the station’s early adoption of lens technology and reducing oil consumption by roughly half.

Photograph showing destruction caused by hurricane in September 1917 Photograph courtesy National Archives

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the modest station became a focal point of military and logistical activity. Confederate vessels anchored at Head of Passes while awaiting opportunities to slip through the Union blockade, and Union ships cautiously probed upriver. The station also became a temporary lighthouse depot. Commander Raphael Semmes, formerly head of the Confederate States Lighthouse Bureau, raided federal light stations throughout the delta and stored salvaged equipment at Head of Passes for eventual shipment to New Orleans.

At the beginning of the rebellion, the original lighthouse was burned. In its place, the U.S. Navy established a battery within the station’s levee to deter blockade runners. A temporary sixth-order lens mounted in a brass housing was displayed from a timber tripod in January 1863. By April, a new wooden lighthouse with a fifth-order Fresnel lens stood on the original foundation, and the light was once again shown.

James Fisher, formerly keeper at South Pass, served as Union keeper during the war. By this period, Head of Passes had evolved into a major lighthouse depot supporting repairs throughout the Gulf Coast. Yet the environment remained hostile. Neglected levees washed away and had to be rebuilt, while annual floods sent massive trees crashing into the station. In 1866, brick piers supporting the gallery were destroyed by drifting logs, damage attributed to negligence by the keeper. Jessie Fisher, recently widowed, was dismissed, and a replacement was appointed.

The years following the Civil War were dominated by a continual struggle to keep the station from being swept away. By 1867, the dwelling rested on wooden posts after its brick piers were destroyed, gallery sills had rotted, and repairs were repeatedly interrupted—most notably by yellow fever. A protective shield against floating logs was installed, but erosion and wave action persisted.

In 1868, a major breakwater was completed in front of the lighthouse. The results were immediate and dramatic: river currents slowed, sediment accumulated, and the ground level rose by as much as two feet in a single year. Willows took root, further stabilizing the soil. By 1870, land that had once been navigable by rowboat had become firm, dry ground, and the threat of undermining appeared arrested.

Despite these improvements, erosion resumed. In early 1872, the lighthouse was moved approximately 200 feet inland after a gale destroyed much of the breakwater. By 1876, a new breakwater—built under a $3,500 appropriation—once again placed the station in good order. A fog bell operated by machinery was added in 1875, greatly enhancing the station’s usefulness during periods of low visibility.

The late nineteenth century marked a gradual transition from lighthouse to service hub. The construction of jetties extending from Deer Island toward deep water shifted navigational emphasis away from the lighthouse itself. Beginning in 1878, pier-head and jetty lights were established at the entrances to the South Pass. By 1888, Head of Passes was officially regarded as a light attendant station rather than a primary navigational light.

1925 plans for a keeper’s triplex for Head of Passes Photograph courtesy National Archives

The station nonetheless remained busy. A depot for buoys, coal, and lighthouse stores operated on site. Wooden jetty beacons were repeatedly destroyed by erosion, drifting logs, and passing steamers, requiring continual rebuilding—often with increasingly substantial iron or pile-supported structures. Fog-signal equipment was repaired, replaced, and relocated as river conditions changed.

In 1887, Louis G. Norvell, once a wealthy cotton broker, lost all his money and became a lighthouse keeper at Southwest Pass. He was promoted to first assistant at that station the next year, and then was placed in charge of Head of Passes Lighthouse in 1889. In 1891, Keeper Norvell drowned near Head of Passes. Margaret Norvell carried on her husband’s duties as head keeper while also caring for two children.

In October 1893, a powerful hurricane, now known as the Cheniere Caminada hurricane after it wiped out that settlement, devastated the Mississippi Delta, killing an estimated 2,000 people. “I could look into the swirling water and see people being swept by,” recalled Margaret. “I was powerless to help them.” Margaret opened up the lighthouse to refugees and cared for more than 200 people. In 1896, Margaret was transferred to Port Pontchartrain, where she looked after one lighthouse and then another until her mandatory retirement in 1932 at the age of seventy. The Cheniere Caminada hurricane was the worst disaster she witnessed in her forty-one years as a lighthouse keeper.

On Deer Island, the keeper’s dwelling, wharves, walks, cisterns, oil house, fencing, and fog-signal tower were repeatedly repaired or rebuilt. By 1899, the station boasted extended wharves, multiple plank walks connecting the dwelling to jetty beacons and fog-signal towers, a new boathouse with davits, and a relocated fog-bell tower equipped with an improved striking mechanism.

In the early twentieth century, the station continued to adapt. Storms and vessel collisions damaged wharves and structures, but repairs were routinely made—often at the expense of offending ship owners. In 1923, the fog signal was modernized, with an air diaphone replacing the bell and clockwork mechanism.

Disaster struck on December 11, 1924, when a fire destroyed the fifth-order light and the keeper’s dwelling. A new triplex residence was built the following year. Even amid challenges, the station’s keepers earned distinction. During hurricanes in 1915 and 1917, Keeper John W. St. G. Gibbon and Assistant Keeper Christian T. Thomasen maintained the lights under extreme conditions and carried out rescues. Thomasen later helped extinguish a fire threatening government property in 1918. Keeper Albert Matulich received lighthouse efficiency flags in 1919 and 1921, reflecting exemplary maintenance and operation.

Although no longer a traditional lighthouse guiding ships to sea, Head of Passes remained indispensable well into the twentieth century as a service, fog-signal, and maintenance station at one of the most dynamic points on the Mississippi River. Its history mirrors the river itself—constantly shifting, frequently destructive, yet essential to commerce and navigation. From its possibly foreign-built iron tower to its final role as a logistical hub amid jetties and fog signals, Head of Passes Lighthouse stands as a testament to the persistence required to maintain aids to navigation in one of the most challenging environments on the American coast.

Keepers:

• Head: A. Angel (1852 – 1853), Henry Hingle (1853 – at least 1860), James Fisher (1863 – 1864), Jessie Fisher (1864 – 1866), Charles Thompson (1866), Lawrence Larson (1886 – 1889), Louis G. Norvell (1889 – 1891), Margaret R. Norvell (1891 – 1896), Robert G. Miller (1896 – 1898), Patrick Karrigan (1898 – 1905), John Duffy (1905), William Wilson (1905 – 1906), Grace O'Brien (1906), Ralph Gordon (1906 – 1914), John W. St. G. Gibbon (1914 – 1918), Albert Matulich (1918 – at least 1924), Julius Snow (1928 – at least 1943).
• First Assistant: Charles A. Thompson (1871 – 1875), Charles Barkman (1875 – ), Charles A. Thompson (1877 – ), Peter L. Anderson (1878 – 1879), Charles J. Anderson (1879 – 1883), Charles A. Thompson (1883 – 1884), Michael Coleman (1884), Lawrence Larson (1884 – 1886), Theodore Shields (1886), John Gondorf (1886), David B. Ahern (1886), Richard Attaway (1886 – 1887), Christian O.M. Berke (1887 – 1888), Rudolph Descovich (1888 – 1889), Hobert S. Horton (1889 – 1890), John A. Munch (1890 – 1891), Robert C. Gage (1891), Steaven F. Purgley (1892 – 1896), John Anderson (1896), George H. Arledge (1896), Willard W. Mitchell (1896 – 1898), Griffin Sellars (1898 – 1903), Annie Karrigan (1903), William J. O'Brien (1903), George Lory (1903 – 1905), William J. O'Brien (1905 – 1909), Parke J. White (1909 – 1910), Frederick A. Schrieber (1910 – 1912), Charles M. Teller (1912), Thomas Zettwoch ( – 1913), Christian T. Thomasen (1913 – 1918), Stephen E. Mozier (1918), Charly G. Sellers (1918), Nikola Magash (1918), Walter A. Williams (1918 – 1919), Gustave Lagarosse (1919 – 1920), Steven Coludrovich (1920), Frank Coludrovich (1920), George Buras (1920 – 1922), Frank Coludrovich (1923 – ), Andrew Jackson, Jr. ( – 1928), Claude H. Stone (1928 – 1930), Richard N. Besselaar (1930 – 1931), Felix Hingle, Jr. (1931 – 1933), Clem J. Hingle (1933 – at least 1942).
• Second Assistant: Henry Rehder (1878 – 1879), Charles J. Anderson (1879), Andrew Jackson, Jr. ( – 1924), Earl K. Wakefield (1924), Clem J. Hingle ( – 1928), Claude H. Stone (1928), James O. Anderson ( – 1929), Felix Hingle, Jr. (1930 – 1931), John E. Harrison (1932 – 1934), Willie D. Cooper (1934 – 1936), Steven Coludrovich (1936 – 1938), Lewis L. Wright (1938), Carol A. Colombel (1939 – 1944).

References

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico, David Cipra, 1997.
3. “The ‘Old Salt’ of Milneburg,” The Times Picayune, September 15, 1963.

A modern light marks Head of Passes today.

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