The Sabine Pass Lighthouse, or Sabine Pass Light as it was referred to by the United States Coast Guard, is a historic lighthouse, as part of a gulf coast light station, on the Louisiana side of the Sabine River, in Cameron Parish, across from the community of Sabine Pass, Texas. It was first lit in 1857 and was deactivated by the Coast Guard in 1952. One of only three built in the United States of similar design, the light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Sabine Pass Lighthouse" on December 17, 1981. It is now abandoned but has long continued to be the subject of preservation efforts. The Calcasieu Historical Preservation Society – with interest because the lighthouse was once in Calcasieu Parish – has listed that the lighthouse may be the oldest brick structure still standing in Southwest Louisiana. History On March 3, 1849, the United States Congress appropriated $7,500 for a lighthouse in Sabine Pass. Commander Henry A. Adams was sent to investigate a site location but reported, "the coast is so free from danger in that vicinity, the place itself so easy of access, and the business done there so inconsiderable, that, in my opinion, a light-house is not necessary there at this time." Construction was delayed until further calls for a light prompted a second appropriation in 1853. Captain Danville Leadbetter (later to serve as a Confederate general), whose recommendation was instrumental in bringing about construction, also designed the station. Construction began in 1855 under the supervision of United States Lighthouse Service (LHS) inspector Walter H. Stevens (also later to serve as a Confederate States general) and took two years. The tower was constructed of brick and was set on a shellcrete and wooden pile foundation. The marshy location led to an unusual system of buttresses radiating from the base of the tower in order to stabilize it. The white-painted tower was equipped with a third order Fresnel lens and lit for the first time in mid-1857. The beacon was extinguished during the Civil War in 1861, to hinder navigation by Union ships, but was returned to service December 23, 1865 after the Confederate surrender. The tower was used as an observation post by both Confederate and Union soldiers, prompting a skirmish at the light on April 16, 1863; several men were killed. This was five months before the Second Battle of