Sabine Pass Light, Louisiana
A brick beauty situated where the Sabine Pass separates Texas from Louisiana, this Gulf Coast sentinel went into operation in 1857 but was deactivated in 1952. A nonprofit group has been working for more than two decades to repair cracks and stabilize the structure. sabinepasslighthouse.org
Charles Braun
Morris Island Lighthouse, South Carolina
This is the third lighthouse to occupy its site near the entrance to Charleston Harbor, and it was lit for the first time in 1876. A group called Save the Light is now in the third phase of a preservation project to repair the interior and paint the exterior according to National Park Service guidelines. savethelight.org
Ted Kerwin
New Point Comfort Light, Virginia
At the northern entrance of Mobjack Bay, which converges with the Chesapeake, stands this sandstone lookout, first fired in 1805. Conserving the light has been a centuries-long task, now spearheaded by a task force focused on making the site both stable and accessible to visitors. newpointcomfortlighthouse.org
William Brown
Reef Lights, Florida
Six historic offshore lighthouses guard the Florida Keys, and all are in some state of danger. The nineteenth-century-built iron behemoths have a skeletal design to withstand wind and waves, but time (and hurricanes) continue to threaten their integrity. reeflights.org
Marc Serota
Fort Carroll Light, Maryland
Atop a man-made island in the Patapsco River near Baltimore, the circa-1854 beam was employed by the Coast Guard during WWII. The island is overgrown, and the historic lighthouse is decaying. It has yet to find its savior.
Kraig Anderson, lighthousefriends.com
CJ Lotz Diego is a Garden & Gun deputy editor. A staffer since 2013, she wrote G&G’s bestselling Bless Your Heart trivia game, edits the Due South travel section, and covers gardens, books, and art. Originally from Eureka, Missouri, she graduated from Indiana University and now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where she tends a downtown pocket garden with her florist husband, Max.
