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When Nelson Plaisance grew up in Raceland, Louisiana, he spent a lot of time at lighthouses – well, under them, to be exact. In his high school years, Nelson liked to tie up on the piles beneath and fish there. As he moved along the bays, lakes, and shoreline of the Gulf, he saw many old abandoned lighthouses. Several were originally built on shoals on high screw piles, but later were left sitting down in the water because the shoals were washed away during hurricanes. It wasn’t too many years before many of the lights followed suit, even those that had substantially more ground under them on shore.
But Nelson enjoyed them while he could. He fished at Sabine Pass Lighthouse and Barataria Light near the channel off Grand Isle. His favorite place was Timbalier Bay Lighthouse, and he also frequented the area around the Lake Pontchartrain Lighthouse. All those hours spent in their presence influenced Nelson a great deal because he later had a desire to find out more about them, especially after several had met their demise during subsequent hurricanes.
Once he started to dig into the history of them, he was amazed to discover how many lighthouses had been built over time in Louisiana – up to 40 total, which included several that were rebuilt, not only due to the hurricanes, but also to erosion, termites, and the Civil War. There were sometimes three and four lighthouses built in the same location when their predecessors were destroyed for these reasons.
Beyond Nelson’s feelings of nostalgia for these lost lights, he realized that many people had never had the opportunity to see them, and even many of the ones that were still standing were inaccessible due to their locations out in marshes and estuaries. This inspired Nelson to want to create replica models of these lighthouses for others to learn from and enjoy.
So, Nelson requested microfilm copies of the architectural plans from the National Archives and prints from the Smithsonian Institute. He also studied old photos and local drawings of them. He had draftsman training, so he was able to recreate the lighthouses to a one-quarter scale, or ¼ inch to the foot.
Along the way, Nelson received some local funding to help with the materials costs. He tried to replicate the lighthouses as close as possible to the originals in look and construction. The wood ones were done with locally reclaimed cypress. The metal ones that had crisscross bracing were made with brass and copper wire and piping, and for the stone ones he used resin.
His nuts and bolts original architectural plans allowed him to be very intricate in detail. Ship Shoal Lighthouse was the hardest to replicate because of its complexity. The original screw pile skeletal lighthouse tower was built at a foundry in Philadelphia and then dismantled and brought out to the Gulf to be put up on the shoal.
While Nelson Plaisance had been a professional carver and model-builder since 1984, he started the lighthouse models project early in the 2000s, and it took him four years to complete a couple dozen replica models. He then donated them to be showcased in a special exhibit built especially for them at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum located in Madisonville, Louisiana. The display area is made to resemble a lighthouse lantern and is topped with beams that look like astragals with a ventilator ball at the peak.
The models are housed inside diorama settings that are stacked two to a section and arranged in a circle, so it is like walking around a lantern deck to view them all. There is also a five-minute video that shows historic photos of the original lights and promotes the importance of preservation of this heritage for future generations. It is truly a memorable and unique experience to be able to see so many of Louisiana’s lost lights recreated in such accurate detail and displayed in these 3-D diorama settings that resemble their original locations.
On the other side of the exhibit entrance is a replica sitting room of the Tchefuncte River Lighthouse keeper’s dwelling during the 1920s and 30s when Capt. Frederick A. Schrieber and his family lived there. There are display cases set up with period memorabilia, including a book that bears a bookplate stating that it is the property of the United States Lighthouse Establishment. Photos of Schrieber and his family are shown on the wall above.
The original Tchefuncte River keeper’s dwelling, which was sold and moved to the town of Madisonville in 1952, was relocated to the museum grounds in 2004 and is set up to provide modern accommodation. It currently serves as a venue for events, such as weddings, showers, and garden club meetings. Future plans may include an upgrade for use as a vacation rental or boater accommodation.
On the grounds near the dwelling, the surviving lantern from the 1857 Pass Manchac Lighthouse is displayed. According to museum director Jim MacPherson, “The lantern room was removed from the lighthouse in 2002, during what was to be Phase 1 of the lighthouse restoration. The lantern room was moved to LPBMM in February 2008 as an exhibit to be returned to the Pass Manchac Lighthouse after its restoration. Unfortunately Pass Manchac Lighthouse was destroyed by Hurricane Isaac in August 2012 when the force of the winds toppled the already unstable lighthouse into Lake Pontchartrain.”
It is fortunate that at least the lantern has been preserved to mark the existence of the 160-year-old lighthouse, even if the rest of the tower is now beyond salvaging.
Also of interest to the lighthouse aficionado is the museum’s display of the third order clamshell Fresnel lens that once graced the Chandeleur Island Lighthouse. Tragically, after surviving many hurricanes over its nearly 110-year history, the lighthouse was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
A visit to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum would not be complete without viewing the Tchefuncte River Lighthouse, either up close and personal by boat, or from a viewing area a short distance away on shore. The lighthouse just celebrated its 150th year anniversary in 2018 and is still in the process of being restored. It is one of the few Louisiana lighthouses left in its original location that is easily accessible to view and is thankfully being maintained.
Visiting the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum is a perfect way to celebrate Louisiana’s lighthouse heritage and preserve the memory of so many of its lost lights. For more information on their exhibits and lighthouse restoration efforts, please visit their website at https://lpbmm.org
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