The Tchefuncte River Range Lights are a range that was first established in 1838 to aid vessels entering the Tchefuncte River from the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. The lighting apparatus was supplied by Winslow Lewis and consisted of nine lamps with several fourteen-inch reflectors. The original rear tower suffered during the Civil War and was replaced with the current tower in 1868. The new tower, ten feet taller than the first, was built on the same foundation, using some of the same brick. It was given a lantern which had been removed from Cat Island Light in Mississippi.

Tchefuncte River Range Lights

Location	St. Tammany Parish, US
Coordinates	30°23′N 90°10′W
Tower
Constructed	1838
Tchefuncte River Range Rear Light
Construction	brick (tower), stone (foundation)
Automated	1952
Height	16 m (52 ft)
Shape	conical
Markings	white (tower), black (vertical stripe), black (lantern)
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Fog signal	none now, bell in past
First lit	1868
Focal height	49 ft (15 m)
Lens	5th order Fresnel lens (original), 9.8 inches (250 mm) (current)
Range	15 nmi (28 km; 17 mi)
Characteristic	Iso W 6s
Tchefuncte River Range Rear Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Madisonville, Louisiana
Area	0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built	1867
NRHP reference No.	86001684[1]
Added to NRHP	July 14, 1986
Tchefuncte River Range Front Light
Shape	Skeleton tower
Markings	KRW
Focal height	25 ft (7.6 m)
Lens	fourth order Fresnel lens
Characteristic	Q W

The rear tower has a black vertical stripe to serve as the range line in daytime.[2][3][4] It sits on a spit of land, but is accessible only by boat. The front tower is marked with a standard USCG KRW daymark, with a red stripe between two white stripes. It is a skeleton tower and sits in open water.

The rear tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum is making efforts to restore and stabilize the light.[5]

References

The Light List [2] spells the river name "Tchefuncta", but that's in conflict with the U.S. Board on Geographical Names [6]

External links

• Media related to Tchefuncte River Range Lights at Wikimedia Commons