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carthage-tn-lighthouse_25896826416_o

carthage-tn-lighthouse_25896826416_o

Album Featured Smith Co.

Image 6/66

Oct 30, 2014 08:45

  Original

Near the bank of the Cumberland River in Carthage, TN is this lighthouse. The lighthouse is a masonry tower about 36 ft tall with a spiral staircase leading up to the gallery. I can't find almost any information on this lighthouse, such as the date is was built. It is not listed with the U.S. Coast Guard, which means it never had the purpose of an aid to river navigation. This means that it was built for recreation or decorative purposes. If you know more, please share in the comments. Read the comment from flickr user Spew! for the history. This building used to be a pumping station which pumped water from the Cumberland River to the Carthage water treatment plant. They built a new pumping station about 100 yards down the river in the mid 1960s and removed all the pumping equipment from this building. This was never a functioning lighthouse but was always referred to as "The Lighthouse" because of it's architectural similarities. Once it was fenced off due to crumbling infrastructure, but was cosmetically refurbished when development moved into the area. It is now considered a landmark in Carthage.