From the Jan. 8, 2012, Mobile (Al) Press-Register "Sand Island Reborn" by Ben Raines.
Although the current lighthouse was constructed after the Civil War, this little-bitty stretch of land has a lot to do with the war along the coast.
"Sand Island, Alabama's newest land-mass, has the only beach in the state guaranteed to be free of tarballs.
Lost beneath the waves for generations, the island was reborn in November and December, thanks to a federal dredging project that pumped 1.4 million cubic yards of clean sand from the Gulf seafloor."
Evidently, pesky tarballs still float in because of the BP problem they had a couple years ago.
The new island is about a half-mile long and 700 feet wide at its widest, It is already home to hundreds of birds and even has a left-over lighthouse from its last incarnation. The poor 141-year old structure sat on a pile of rocks for decades.
And, hey, since we're on the subject of Raphael Semmes, it is possible that he might have gone out to the lighthouse during his days living in Mobile in the 1870s. You know, sea legs for an old salt, such as he was.
More to Come. --Old B-Runner
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