Posted By: Zachary
Franks Island Lighthouse - 01/20/05 03:20 PM
Does anyone know anything about this lighthouse? I know a history is on LH Digest, but, other than that, does anyone know like what kind of lens it had or how tall it is?
Franks Island Lighthouse
Posted By: Zachary
Re: Franks Island Lighthouse - 01/21/05 05:57 AM
After researching a tad and with the help of me new book that came today (Endangered Lighthouses), I've come up with this information:
The first tower built at Frank's Island was a rather ornate design which featured a large columned porch wrapping around the keeper's quarters. The tower sat atop the keeper's quarters. The structure in total must've been very beautiful indeed, but, it weighed 100s of tons and collapsed after 10 days.
Winslow Lewis built a new tower using the materials of the old one, this time, a plainer design, the new Frank's Island LH was a plain 82 foot brick tower. It featured a Lewis Reflector lens which cast it's beam a remarkable 20 miles. The tower was shortly used, 32 years later it was deactivated. Sometime after, the lantern room was removed and the tower was sealed off. Much to everyone's disbelief, the tower stayed erect for some 179 years before it finally collapsed. Now all that's left of Louisiana's oldest tower is a pile of debris is the water.
I had the time, so, I drew a (to the best of my knowledge) scale picture of the 2nd tower (when it was active)
It's 18 feet at the bottom and 82 feet high (minus the lantern room)
The first tower built at Frank's Island was a rather ornate design which featured a large columned porch wrapping around the keeper's quarters. The tower sat atop the keeper's quarters. The structure in total must've been very beautiful indeed, but, it weighed 100s of tons and collapsed after 10 days.
Winslow Lewis built a new tower using the materials of the old one, this time, a plainer design, the new Frank's Island LH was a plain 82 foot brick tower. It featured a Lewis Reflector lens which cast it's beam a remarkable 20 miles. The tower was shortly used, 32 years later it was deactivated. Sometime after, the lantern room was removed and the tower was sealed off. Much to everyone's disbelief, the tower stayed erect for some 179 years before it finally collapsed. Now all that's left of Louisiana's oldest tower is a pile of debris is the water.
I had the time, so, I drew a (to the best of my knowledge) scale picture of the 2nd tower (when it was active)
It's 18 feet at the bottom and 82 feet high (minus the lantern room)
Posted By: ericlighthouse
Re: Franks Island Lighthouse - 02/01/05 04:17 AM
The lighthouse people have a picture of it when the bottom half was still in one piece. I believe you can find it at their website.