The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. Alabama is a southeastern state located between the states of Georgia and Mississippi. Spain gave up its claims to most of the area in a 1795 treaty and the U.S. forcibly annexed the coastal region in 1812. Formerly part of the Mississippi Territory, Alabama was organized as a separate territory in 1817 and admitted to the Union as a state in 1819. Alabama has a short coastline on the Gulf of Mexico west of Florida, with a major port at Mobile facing the broad waters of Mobile Bay, the combined estuary of the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers. The state has three historic lighthouses but only one is active and another has been removed indefinitely. A state preservation society, the Alabama Lighthouse Association (ALA), was formed in 2002. And there's work to do, because the state's record in lighthouse preservation is very poor. The Sand Island Lighthouse, seen at right, is one of the most endangered lighthouses in the nation and all three historic lighthouses are on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List. However the ALA web site has disappeared and its Facebook page has not been updated since 2021, so it's not clear that the organization is still active. Navigational aids in the United States are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. Alabama lights are the responsibility of Sector Mobile. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from Volume IV of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.
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Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay Lighthouses
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![]() Mobile Bay Lower Reach Outer Range Rear Light photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission |
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![]() Arlington Channel Outbound Range Rear Light photo copyright Capt. Theo Hinrichs; used by permission |
Central and Northern Alabama Lighthouses
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![]() Children's Harbor Light, Lake Martin, March 2014 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by AlabamaSouthern |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Tennessee | East: Western Florida | West: Mississippi
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Checked and revised October 10, 2024. Lighthouses: 17. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.