The Point Au Fer Reef Light was a lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 built in 1916 on Eugene Island in Atchafalaya Bay

Atchafalaya Basin

The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The river stretches from near Simmesport in the north...

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 to mark a new channel across Point Au Feu Reef. It replaced Southwest Reef Light

Southwest Reef Light

Southwest Reef Light is a historic lighthouse built in 1856 at the end of Southwest Reef in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana to replace lightships which had been stationed there for ten years. It served to guide vessels around the reef and into the main channel of the Atchafalaya River...

 as the entrance light for the Atchafalaya River

Atchafalaya River

The Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi River and Red River in south central Louisiana in the United States. It flows south, just west of the Mississippi River....

. The light was deactivated and replaced by a skeleton tower in 1975. The Coast Guard then offered it to the South Lafourche Cultural and Historical Society, which declined, so the Coast Guard burned it down.