Postage Stamp Features Matagorda Light

This 2009 photo was used for the artist rendering on the postage stamp.

Credit: Guy Mason

This photo depicting the black Matagorda Lighthouse was taken around 1910.

Credit: USFWS

The Matagorda Island Lighthouse in Texas is one of five Gulf Coast Lighthouses featured in a new series of 44-cent stamps from the U.S. Postal Service.

The lighthouse has stood near Port O’Connor, Texas, for more than a century. It is on Matagorda Island which is owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  Listed in the National Register of Historic Sites in 1984, the lighthouse is actually managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife.  The nonprofit Matagorda Island Foundation has taken the lead in bringing awareness to the need for preserving the lighthouse.

It is possible to see the lighthouse from private boats. There are no public facilities on the island and while the lighthouse is not open to the public, it is possible to reach it on land from the north end boat ramp by foot or bicycle.

There is disappointment on the refuge that the stamp does not show a black Matagorda Lighthouse. Although the text on the back of the stamp refers to a “black conical tower,” the image itself appears almost white. The U.S. Postal Service says the stamp art was based on a photograph depicting the lighthouse in bright sunshine, its original black paint having faded considerably to gray.

The other lighthouses featured in the Gulf Coast series include Sabine Pass, LA; Biloxi, MS; Sand Island, AL; and Fort Jefferson, FL.