Mobile Middle Bay Light
Backstory and Context
Located 15 miles south of the harbor, the Mobile Middle Bay Light is one of Alabama’s few navigational landmarks and is unusual in that it was constructed as both a lighthouse and a residence. This navigational aide became necessary after a 17-foot channel was dredged in the 1880’s to permit large vessels to reach Mobile. The structure, placed at a hazardous dogleg roughly midway along the 29-mile channel, was prefabricated in the North and then shipped to Mobile Point. Arriving on site in 1885, the hexagonal wood-framed structure, topped by a lantern room, was affixed to seven legs screwed into the bottom of Mobile Bay. A Fourth Order Fresnel lens first cast its beam on December 1, 1885. In 1935 the light was electrified and a keeper was no longer needed to reside in the small, isolated lighthouse. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and acquired by the Alabama Historical Commission in 1977 through the Historic Surplus Property Program. Today the Commission maintains the light as a private navigational aid and oversees the preservation of the structure.