by Adele Woodyard
Did you know Sunday, August 7 was National Lighthouse Day? What better time to honor a light that has guided mariners for thousands of years. In fact the first recorded lighthouse was a 450 foot tower built in Egypt around 300 B.C. Florida’s first navigation aid, a watchtower, didn’t arrive until 1586, when the Spanish placed it off St. Augustine. The state’s first true lighthouse was a 73 foot harbor light erected there in 1824; it fell down 56 years later.
Part of the problem was a masonry tower’s vulnerability to winds and water. One built on Sand Key near Key West in 1825, collapsed in the hurricane of 1846. You can view its 1847 replacement at the *Key West Lighthouse & Keeper’s Quarters Museum, the 15th oldest surviving lighthouse in the U.S. It also gives the story of how eight adults and six children took refuge in the original building, and were swept away by the storm’s huge wave.
Eventually engineers discovered how to anchor the framework and over a dozen pile-driven lighthouses constructed between 1852-1900 are still in service today. The Coast Guard took over operations in 1939, and when automation of the Fresnel lens began in the 60s, human keepers became obsolete. Their old dwellings are often museums filled with artifacts in the historic Florida lighthouses now open to the public. Those with a * are in my upcoming book, Florida “freebies” and “cheapies” 250 Daytrips for Little or No Money.
The *Ponce Deleon Inlet Lighthouse is one of the few with all of its original buildings still intact. The 175 foot red brick tower makes it the second tallest lighthouse in the country; three dwellings, privies, oil storage and pump house, plus an adjoining boat exhibit, make it one of the most extensive. That the Head Keeper was the last one under the U.S. Lighthouse Service, and a dwelling is named for his daughter, adds an interesting note.
A bit further south, the 1860 barn red *Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse rises from a hilltop, the Museum nestled at its base.
Black and white spiral stripes on the St. Augustine 1871 tower, and the solid black top/ white bottom *Pensacola Lighthouse, circa 1859, paint striking structures that catch the eye. The latter had its lens damaged by retreating Confederate soldiers, and boasts a two-story museum.
Four lighthouses, three of them on the Gulf, are in state parks. Bill Baggs Cape Florida lighthouse was built in 1825, almost burned down by Seminole Indians, and reconstructed in 1846. The oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County is at the tip of Key Biscayne . The 1890 *Boca Grande Lighthouse overlooks an inviting beach on Gasparilla Island. Both welcome cars or boats, but by water is the only way you can reach the 1858 lighthouse on Egmont Key, or Anclote Key’s iron structured tower. Although neither are open for tours, the sandy beaches, swimming, and historic Fort Dade ruins on Egmont, alone are worth a trip.
For more of Florida’s 32 lighthouses, visit the Florida Heritage Maritime Trail website.
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