Historical Marker
Aransas Pass Light Station
Port Aransas, Aransas County · Texas
Erected 1973
The pass this light marked has worn several names. It appears on the Bratton map as early as 1528; Governor Prudencio de Orobio y Basterra called it Aránzazu on his map of 1739, and it became Aransas on a ship captain's map of 1833. The Power and Hewetson colonists crossed its bar in 1830-34 in seven to eighteen feet of water. The pass kept moving south, and the light was soon more than a mile from it. The station is the second oldest lighthouse on the Texas coast.
What the plaque says
Aransas Pass Light Station Construction of 67-foot tower was started in 1855. The French lens was lighted in 1856, to mark natural Gulf pass to Aransas and Corpus Christi Bays by way of Lydia Ann Channel -- named for the daughter of the first keeper. During Civil War, Confederates (in 1863) buried lens for safety before damaging tower to avert use of light by Federal forces. The auxiliary structures were rebuilt after 1919 hurricane. One of original Texas stations of U.S. Lighthouse Service (merged into the Coast Guard in 1939), this light was decommissioned in 1952 after pass shifted southward. (1973) INCISE ON BASE: Lighthouse not open to public. INCISE ON BACK OF MARKER: Restored in 1972 by Charles C. Butt
Where it stands
27.86409, -97.05645 · Directions