Battery Gladden Light Explained

Location:Mobile Bay
Coordinates:30.6675°N -88.0228°W
Yearlit:1872
Yeardeactivated:1913
Foundation:iron screw-pile
Construction:wood frame
Shape:square house with lantern on roof
Focalheight:[1]
Lens:lens lantern

The Battery Gladden Light was a lighthouse in Mobile Bay which marked a turn in the old ship channel. It was deactivated in 1913 and no longer exists.

History

Battery Gladden was constructed on an artificial island as part of the defenses set up in the Civil War.[2] [3] Dredging operations after the war established a ship channel which ran towards the light and turned to the west just south of the island.[4] In order to direct ships through the channel a square screw-pile house was built in 1872 on the old fortification and equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens.[2] [3] Channel dredging continued and a new channel was dug to the west, bypassing the portion marked by this light, which was extinguished in 1913.[5] The house remained standing as a daymark, finally succumbing to the elements around 1950.[2] [3]

Notes and References

  1. Book: List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. 234. March 1, 1907. Government Printing Office. 2014-01-25.
  2. Web site: Lighthouses of Alabama. Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2014-01-25. 2013-05-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20130517023303/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2564. dead.
  3. Book: Lost Lighthouses: Stories and Images of America's Vanished Lighthouses. registration. Battery Gladden mobile.. Tim. Harrison. Ray. Jones. 1999. Globe Pequot. 101. 9780762704439 . 2014-01-25.
  4. see for example on Chart 188: Mobile Bay. 1877. US Coast and Geodetic Survey. 2014-01-25.
  5. Book: Addenda to the Hydrographic Office Publication No. 64 of 1907. 23. 1914. Government Printing Office. 2014-01-25.