Built: 1838

Type: Tower

Height: 131 Feet

Status: Deactivated 1933

Location: Mobile Bay entrance, Alabama

Access: Boat to Island

Notes: In 1837, $10,000 was authorized for Alabama's first and only seacoast light. Completed in 1838, the first light, standing 55 feet, held 14 lamps, in 16 inch reflectors, and could be seen 13 to 15 miles at night. Of the original grant, $1,101 was returned being leftover from the construction cost of $8,899. The first lighthouse keeper was John McCloud and he was paid $500 at year starting in 1839.
A new tower was required by 1856, and the magnificent tower at Sand Island was first lighted in January, 1859. Only two years later, Confederate soldiers discovered Yankees spying on Fort Morgan from the tower. The structure was blasted into the waters by a half dozen soldiers who rowed out to the island.
A barely-adequate white wooden tower marked Sand Island from 1864 to 1873. By 1871, plans for the present 125-foot brick tower were being made. On September 1, 1873, the Sand Island Lighthouse was in operation. A two-story keeper's house was added shortly afterward.
After a hurricane struck on September 27, 1906, the light was out! The structure itself was standing, but the dwelling was washed away. A couple of days before the storm hit, one of the keepers had gone ashore. He was lucky! Following the storm, his wife along with the other keeper and his wife were no where to be found.
A second hurricane struck in 1919. After the storm, a landing party was dispatched to investigate the reason for the light being extinguished. The party found the station deserted. The station's log stated that the keepers had gone ashore to pick up a new employee. They were never found, apparently, never having reached shore.
In 1921, the lighthouse was automated, and the light was deactivated eleven years later. Since that time, the pile of granite blocks has managed to provide a secure footing for the lighthouse without further aid from man. The second-order Fresnel lens was removed from the tower in 1971, and then placed on exhibit at the Fort Morgan museum the following year. In 1973, the 1925 keeper's dwelling, which stood on iron pilings next to the tower, burned down.