They are pillars of hopes past — guideposts for mariners lost in troubled waters, the last and the first sight each sailor would see before yielding to the wrath or mercy of prevailing winds and the temporal whims of Mother Nature and Father Sea. With varied shapes and sizes, their brilliant lamps have kept watch upon the seas, the one great hope of mariners who were long upon the open water, guiding man and ship safely through channels and waterways to the safety of shore.
Indeed, the legend and lure of lighthouses begins with the reason for them: shipwrecks, perilous waters and bad weather. And with nearly 400 miles of Texas coastline from Brownsville to Beaumont, the Gulf of Mexico is littered with hundreds of shipwreck sites and a history filled with tales of woe, survival and treasures.
On April 9, 1554, four ships — the San Esteban, San Andres, Espiritu Santo and Santa Maria de Yciar, reportedly among the sturdiest vessels of the Spanish fleet — set out from Veracruz bound for Spain. Laden with passengers and cargo, they found themselves caught in a horrific storm in the Gulf of Mexico during which three of the ships ran aground about 30 miles north of Port Isabel. Nearly 300 souls perished. The survivors, numbering close to 100, were met with harsh terrain and Native Americans. Very few lived through the ensuing hazards.
In 1684, four vessels, including La Belle, set sail with 400 souls aboard and the Mississippi River as their destination. By 1686, a series of misfortunes found La Belle overshooting her destination, getting caught in a storm and sinking to the bottom of Matagorda Bay.
In March 1852, Captain Stoddard’s Independence set sail on her maiden voyage and attempted to cross the bar at Cavallo Pass en route to Indianola. Six lives were lost and rescue would take two days because of high seas.
If not shipwrecked, as Melinda Rankin wrote in 1875 on a passage from Brazos Santiago Pass to New Orleans, other difficulties could arise. Having taken a stage from Brownsville to Brazos Island, Rankin found the only way to New Orleans was aboard a schooner she described as very small and inconvenient: “It being the time of the year for violent ‘Northers,’ we had a most tempestuous and dangerous passage. We were twelve days out, and for some four or five, we lay in to the middle of the Gulf, surging amid the angry waves. Great fears were entertained that our puny bark would go to the bottom of the sea; and for several nights I did not get into my berth, as the violent rocking of the vessel made it impossible to obtain a moment’s rest. Often did my natural timidity get the ascendency, and I would say to myself, ‘If I ever set my foot on land again, I will never more attempt to cross the Gulf of Mexico.’ We finally arrived in New Orleans, and learned that our vessel had been published in the Daily Picayune, ‘Supposed to be lost at sea.’”
Rankin did, in fact, make many trips across the Gulf of Mexico after that. It was most surely a comfort to see a beacon on a moonless and stormy night, or to hear the sound signal and know land was nearby and possible to reach without running aground.
As early as 1840, the Congress of the Republic of Texas began to pass laws regarding navigational aides. By 1845, $7,000 was appropriated for a lighthouse at the east end of Galveston Island to serve Galveston Harbor. Dues of three cents per ton were to be levied from all foreign-flagged vessels.
By 1851, legislators were seeking appropriations as “many of the points along the coast of Texas require lights, especially at the entrances to the ports and bays, at an early date.” U.S. Congressman Sam Houston implored, “They are much needed to protect life and property.” Designed to guide mariners at sea or warn of hazards, lighthouses, buoys and lightships were to play a vital role in the growth of Texas and the rest of the United States by preserving both life and property.
A year later, lighthouses began to twinkle all along the Texas Gulf Coast.
At their height, over a dozen lighthouses and lightships serviced the Texas coastline. Many were destroyed by harsh weather or neglect, but seven lighthouses remain: Aransas Pass (Lydia Ann), Bolivar Point, Galveston Jetty, Half Moon Reef, Matagorda Island, Point (Port) Isabel and the Sabine Bank.
Lighthouses endured their share of perils. Some were, like the Aransas Pass light tower, damaged by the Confederacy, while others, such as the Bolivar Point Lighthouse, by hurricanes and storms. During a 1915 hurricane, 60 people took refuge in the Bolivar Point Lighthouse. The tower swayed back and forth so violently during the high winds that the lamp had to be rotated by hand until conditions made it impossible to continue.
A keeper’s life was a combination of the occasional assistance in life-saving adventures and menial job-related tasks, including cleaning the lantern, filing reports, maintaining the grounds, filling the lamps with oil, keeping the lantern room free of bees and wasps and other insects, and cleaning catwalks of various fowl that flew into the windows. Some lighthouse sites didn’t offer appropriate family accommodations, and the keeper was faced with long periods of solitude. There were also occasional surprise inspections, which made keeping a lighthouse a challenge.
As other forms of navigational aids were implemented or maritime traffic diminished, lighthouses were decommissioned, fell into disrepair or ended up on private property. Only the Port Isabel Lighthouse remains on the Texas Gulf Coast, in its original location and still open to the public. Constructed nearly 300 years after the plight of the 1554 shipwreck, the Port Isabel Lighthouse served the Laguna Madre Bay area from 1853 until 1905, when it was finally decommissioned.
TOWER OF LIGHT: Photo of the Port Isabel Lighthouse (left) taken by a national guardsman from Iowa — posted to the Brownsville-Port Isabel area during Border Service in 1916–1917; Don Chencho Rosales (right) came to Port Isabel from San Luis Potosi as a young boy to work on the construction of the lighthouse as yellow fever had severely impacted the local workforce. This photo, taken in the 1940s, shows Chencho posing in front of the lighthouse. One postcard boasted that he was the most photographed man in the Rio Grande Valley. Before Port Isabel had city water, he would use his cart to deliver water house to house. He died in 1950, his age purported to be between 115 and 128 years.
Built on the grounds of Zachary Taylor’s Fort Polk, the town site was virtually plotted around it in 1874, making Port Isabel’s town square the only one with a lighthouse in the center of it. With a height of 50 feet and an elevation of 117 feet, the Port Isabel Lighthouse is a dominant feature on the Laguna Madre Bay coastline. It’s weathered severe storms, hurricanes and a Confederate attempt to blow it up.
After 1905, the lighthouse continued to serve the community of Port Isabel as a sort of ad hoc tourist attraction, and while tourists were welcome to climb the winding stairs, caution was recommended “as slips may occur.”
During the 1920s, Point Isabel became Port Isabel, and developers endeavored to “Build A City Where A City Belongs.” Armed with a vision, the area around the lighthouse was planned to reveal the hill the lighthouse sits on. Streets were paved and curbs added. While the lighthouse was in a state of disrepair, it was nevertheless used as a brand for the coastal community. Port Isabel experienced a period of growth as developers dug canals, planted trees, added street lights and electricity, constructed commercial buildings, and marketed the area to the Midwestern part of the United States. And with that, the lighthouse officially became a tourist attraction with regular hours and a lighthouse keeper to welcome visitors to the lighthouse experience.
In 1952, the lighthouse celebrated its 100th birthday and became what was then the smallest State Park in Texas. In 1996 the lighthouse keeper’s cottage was reconstructed using the original 1855 plans and now serves as a visitor’s center for this State Historic Site.
MULTIPURPOSE: (left) This summer, the Lighthouse Establishment Cinema in Port Isabel is celebrating its 12th season. Showings are every Friday at 9:30 p.m. during June and July; (right) inside the lighthouse, a cast iron circular staircase creates the feeling of being inside a nautilus.
A little over a decade ago, the Lighthouse Establishment Cinema was created as a way to program the lighthouse space and engage both visitors and residents in a unique outdoor, family-friendly experience. Movies are projected onto the side of the lighthouse on Friday nights during June and July. There is no admission charge. Tens of thousands have enjoyed this summer tradition over the last 11 years.
The experience of climbing to the top of the Port Isabel Lighthouse starts with ascending 75 winding, cast iron stairs to the Tower Room, then eight steps up a ladder to the Intermediate Room, then seven steps up a ladder to the Supply Room, then nine cast iron stairs to the Lantern Room. The lighthouse keeper would be expected to make this climb at least half a dozen times a day to accomplish the tasks required to keep the light operational. Today, an adventurous traveler can stroll to the top and enjoy a 16-mile view in all directions, the same view lighthouse keepers and Union and Confederate soldiers saw over 150 years ago.
The Port Isabel Lighthouse is open seven days a week, weather permitting. It’s operated by the City of Port Isabel under a contract with Texas Parks and Wildlife.
