“One of my favorite pieces is the lighthouse lens, it was originally on Ship Island. It was built in Paris France in the late 1800’s and I just love it.” However, once Katrina hit, Robin worried that the lens might have been lost for good.
“When we came here the next day a brick wall had fallen on it and it had crushed it. We picked up as many prisms as we could find, the brass framework we picked up and put it in the back of a truck. For weeks we dug in the mud and the muck around the museum, finally the Lighthouse Restoration Lampshop guys who restore lenses all over the world. I got in contact with them and they picked up everything that I had found so far and crated it up very carefully. Six months later they called and said that we had found every single prism.”
That lens now sits as the walk-in centerpiece of the first floor, beautifully restored. This astounding story is one of simple preservation. For people like Robin detailing the rich history of our beloved coast is worth digging through the muck and the mud for. Indeed, without people like Robin we would have a much dimmer vision of our past.
“I think the museum is keeping alive the history and the heritage of Biloxi and the Gulf Coast for generations to come.”
