By Brenda Cannon Henley
I have enjoyed a long running affair with lighthouses on every coast and in many countries, and before Ike hit our beloved Bolivar Peninsula, I had quite the collection of all sizes, shapes, colors, and material. Two of my very favorites were three feet high and made from very heavy metal or iron and were almost impossible for me to lift for any reason. I think they were originally designed as door stops for houses that had big gusts of wind from perhaps the sea. I had several that had the keeper’s cottage attached. Some were lonely sentinels standing guard, while others were in busy downtown areas, or on beaches of great beauty. Most were gifts from various family members and friends over the years and I treasured each one of them. I had been able to determine the history of many of them.

From my kitchen window in the beach house that was destroyed by Ike, I could see the beloved old Bolivar Peninsula light and I was so thrilled when after a reconstruction project the old light was shining once again. The original light was built in 1872 and stood 117 feet above sea level. It safely guided mariners for 61 years before it was retired in 1933, when the South Jetty light replaced it. It is now privately owned and not open for visitors. The lighthouse is constructed of brick sheathed in cast iron plates riveted together. It once glistened with a black and white banded exterior, but is now black in color. The 52,000 candlepower beacon guided ships through the channel, in what is now called The Bolivar Roads, from the Gulf of Mexico into the busy Port of Galveston.

My good friend, Irl Unruh, of Beaumont and the Peninsula, was very involved in the reconstruction project and one of the highlights of my life on Bolivar was getting to go to the top of the old light several years ago with Irl. A young Coast Guarder wanted badly to marry the love of his life in the top of the light and that was arranged and I was blessed to cover the story.

The Bolivar Lighthouse is credited with helping to save many lives during the horrible hurricanes of 1900 and 1915, which inflicted much damage to our beloved Southeast Texas Gulf Coast. The 1900 storm claimed more than 6,000 lives on Galveston Island just across the bay. Winds of 126 mph were recorded during the 1915 hurricane, and yet, the old light stood.

The government sold the lighthouse as surplus property in 1947. The E. W. Boyt interests outbid a competitor and purchased it for $5,500. In 1968, the movie, My Sweet Charlie, starring Patty Duke and Al Freeman, Jr., was filmed at the famed old light.

I, like many Bolivar residents, choose to think about the days of old when the light was essential to the safety of the sailors passing by on their various journeys. I have often thought that if the light could talk, what stories we could hear and what adventure we would know. I remember, too, a quote I used in a much earlier article. “Life at the lighthouse is very lonely and friendless,” wrote Mrs. H. C. Claiborne, wife of the first keeper. “There is very little visiting because travel is non-existent from the point to Galveston. We pass most of our time by reading books.”

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, or
[email protected].

[2-19-2018]