Beacon of Hope

Ship Island Lighthouse (Light Station #2)

        Early in the company’s history, Hancock Bank leaders integrated the Ship Island Lighthouse into the corporate logo to reiterate Hancock’s mission of guiding the people of the Gulf South toward their financial goals and dreams.  Built in 1886 to replace an original, deteriorated brick lighthouse, the 72-foot wooden Ship Island Light Station #2 led generations of mariners to safe harbor along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  A welcomed sight to sailors, seamen, and fishermen seeking refuge from Nature’s wrath, the island’s resident sentinel witnessed two world wars, bid farewell to over 100 million board feet of Mississippi lumber exported to foreign lands, and survived the ravages of 1969’s infamous Hurricane Camille.                                          

        On June 27, 1972, Coastians grieved the loss of the beloved landmark to the embers of a careless camper’s fire.  On October 9, 1998, the felling of a 25-year-old South Mississippi yellow pine and several subsequent reforestation projects commenced official reconstruction of the lighthouse.  Hancock Bank and other area businesses assisted the Friends of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in securing donations of time, talent, and resources to create a third lighthouse marking the natural deepwater harbor Gulf Coast founding father Pierre LeMoyne d’Iberville discovered more than 300 years ago.  Local woodsmen, craftsmen, and Naval Construction Battalion volunteers painstakingly used original blueprints and regional materials to rebuild the lighthouse; and, on June 9, 2000, Hancock Bank helped the Friends dedicate a new Ship Island lighthouse.

     Although Ship Island Light Station #3 proved no match for Hurricane Katrina’s unprecedented surge on August 29, 2005, the resilient spirit that the lighthouse embodied endures as a tribute to Gulf South citizens’ inherent collective capacity to rise amid adversity.  The lighthouse itself is gone.  However, its figurative beacon continues to shine brightly toward an era of great opportunity throughout the region.