At the start of Lakeshore Drive, there is a vacant plot of land next to Lake Pontchartrain, an open space, where once there stood one of the best known buildings in New Orleans.
The New Canal Lighthouse was built in 1890, and was a beacon for residents and tourists through sunny days and hurricanes, until Katrina. That storm left the lighthouse severely damaged, and last year crews carefully disassembled it under plans by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation to restore it.
"This is like rebuilding the levee system," said Carlton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain basin Foundation. "That light is a part of metro New Orleans. It is as much a part of the city as streetcars or Jackson Square. It has got to be rebuilt."
Today the parts of the lighthouse, including the green shutters and white railings, lie among the pieces of 100-year-old cypress that are carefully bundled and stacked in a warehouse in Elmwood, while Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation members work to get it rebuilt.
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, "I can see the building built," said the Foundation's Joann Burke. "I can see tourists. I can see locals enjoying the lake that is in such good shape."
Now, there is a functioning light at the lakefront site. That was donated, and does act as an aid to navigation, but of course the real push is to get the lighthouse rebuilt. To do that, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation needs lots more donations.
"We need about $600,000 more dollars," said the foundation's Anne Rheams. "We have raised about $200,000, but we need $600,000 just for the rebuilding of the lighthouse itself."
While fundraising to rebuild the lighthouse continues, work is already underway to turn the one-time Coast Guard station on the site into an education center they plan to open next spring.
"This is going to be used for a classroom for students, meetings for different people to come in, just to get the word out not just to New Orleanians, but to people from all over Louisiana and all over the country," said Burke.
The education center will stress the importance of coastal protection and restoration.
"That the coast has always been the first line of defense for New Orleans, and still is today, will be for the future," said Dufrechou.
One piece of good news, the New Canal Lighthouse won a national competition among 50 lighthouses across America. The prize: new windows and doors for the re-built lighthouse.
