Florida’s Lighthouses: Guardians of Our Shores
Summary
With more than 1,100 miles of coastline, most of Florida was settled from the sea. In 1821, when the territory
of Florida was annexed to the United States, its three largest cities—Pensacola, St. Augustine and Key West—
were all coastal. Yet except for an old Spanish watchtower at St. Augustine, no navigational aids protected
mariners from the territory's miles of reef-laden shores. Civilian and military seamen began to pressure the
government to mark Florida's coast and oust its infamous pirates who preyed on marine commerce along its
treacherous shores. In this lesson, students will have an opportunity to explore the history behind twelve of
Florida’s thirty-one lighthouses.
Objectives
Students will:
1.) work in groups of 2-3 to research individual Florida lighthouses;
2.) find where each individual lighthouse is located in the state of Florida by using AAA Road Map
grid systems and key words;
3.) explore the history and physical structure of the twelve Florida lighthouses through group
presentations;
4.) discuss the reasons why lighthouses have been constructed.
US History Event or Era
This lesson covers maritime history of Florida, as well as the settlement of the state.
Grade Level
This lesson can be implemented into the elementary school or middle school classroom.
Materials
AAA Road Maps (can be obtained from AAA AutoClub by calling 688-7921 in the Lakeland area, or 293-3151 in
the Winter Haven area), master copy of Florida outline map (included with lesson, but can be found at
http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/clipart/clipart.htm ), glue sticks or tape, one copy of each Information Sheet on
Lighthouses, one copy of “Notes on Florida Lighthouses” per student, one copy of each lighthouse’s Fact Sheet
(for group presentation) for each group, and twelve full-color pictures of each lighthouse (provided with the
lesson). IMPORTANT!! “Fact Sheet” and pictures must correlate with each individual group’s assigned
lighthouse.
Lesson Time
This lesson could be implemented and discussed in two-to-three days’ class time, depending on the
amount of coverage the classroom teacher wants to focus on.
Lesson
Procedures
1.) Before students enter the classroom, hang or tape a large piece of white butcher paper from a wall that can
be easily faced by all of your students. Make a transparency of the Florida map provided with this lesson and
project it onto the white paper. Trace the state’s outline onto the paper.
2.) You will then want to print the pictures of the twelve different lighthouses (preferably on a color printer) and
cut them out to give to your student groups).
3.) Preview Option #1: As students enter your room, show them the transparency of Picture G-2-16 and G-2-17.
Have them answer the questions below the pictures, then allow several minutes for your class to discuss the
questions.
Preview Option #2: Place your students into mixed-ability reading pairs and assign “Florida Lighthouses: An
Introduction,” to be read. While reading, have your students answer the following questions:
a. “How many miles of coastline does Florida have? Is that a lot, in your opinion?”
b. “What dangers encountered Florida’s first explorers and settlers? Why do you think lighthouses were
built?”
c. “Why do you think that the government ordered the construction of lighthouses with distinctive
coloring and unique light sequences?”
d. “What problems did engineers find in building lighthouses in Florida? What did they do to solve the
problems?”
e. “How many lighthouses are in Florida, and are they still working? Do you think that they are still
needed?”
-Discuss the answers with your students. Make sure all students realize that lighthouses were originally built
in Florida to protect travelers at sea from danger, and to help guide them to their destinations.
4.) After placing students in pairs and completing the Preview activity, assign each pair a number from #1-12
(depending on the number of students in your class, you may wish to put students in groups of three). Each
group will receive a copy of their corresponding Lighthouse Information Sheet (for instance, Group #1 will
get Information Sheet #1, etc.), a AAA Road Map (see the Lesson Summary for directions in getting these),
a Fact Sheet for their assigned lighthouse, a picture of their assigned lighthouse, and a glue stick or tape.
Each student in each group will also receive a copy of the Notes on Florida Lighthouses to fill in.
5.) Instruct students that they are to read the Information Sheet assigned to them, fill in the appropriate
information on their Fact Sheet, glue or tape their lighthouse’s picture onto their Fact Sheet, fill in the
appropriate information for their own lighthouse on each group member’s copy of Notes on Florida
Lighthouses, and get ready to present the information about their lighthouse to the class.
6.) After students have written the pertinent information about their lighthouse on their Fact Sheets, advise them
to use the maps provided with each Information Sheet to find the absolute location of each lighthouse. You
may need to give them a hint by telling them to search the Information Sheet maps for city and town names,
then find those same names on the AAA Road Map indexes. This will provide your students with an
opportunity to use mapping and grid system skills.
7.) After 15-20 minutes, allow your students to present the information about their lighthouses to the class and
tape/glue their Fact Sheet to the Florida map hanging from your wall (students should draw large arrows from
their Fact Sheets to the location in Florida where one can find their lighthouse). Be sure to tell the class that
they are responsible for taking notes on the pertinent information on each lighthouse on their own copy of the
Notes on Florida Lighthouses.
8.) (Optional): Assign pairs (or groups of three) a Florida lighthouse not covered in this lesson to research and
present to the class at a later date using the resources included with this lesson. Other lighthouses include:
Ponce de Leon Inlet, Jupiter Inlet, Hillsboro Inlet, Carysfort Reef, Alligator Reef, Sombrero Key, American
Shoal, Sand Key, Garden Key, Dry Tortugas (Loggerhead Key), Sanibel Island, Seahorse Key, St. Marks,
Crooked River, Cape St. George, Cape San Blas, and St. Joseph Bay.
9.) (Optional): Assign pairs the reading excerpt about the Lighthouse of Alexandria from
http://www.worldskip.com/7wonders/lighthouse.html (Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) and have them
answer the following questions:
a. “How long ago was the Lighthouse of Alexandria constructed?”
b. “Which do you think was bigger, Florida’s lighthouses or the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria?”
c.
d.
e.
f.
From how far out at sea could the Lighthouse at Alexandria be seen?”
“What tools did the Lighthouse of Alexandria use to make it visible?”
“What became the fate of the Lighthouse of Alexandria?”
“How did the Lighthouse of Alexandria influence modern times?”
Activities
Florida Lighthouses: An Introduction, by Kevin M. McCarthy
Florida is a peninsula that rose out of the sea eons ago and has depended on the sea for its fishing,
commerce, tourism, and very identity. In the state’s 1,000-plus miles of coastline one can find beaches for
vacationers, inlets and rivers for fishermen, even a launching pad for rockets, but that coastline also holds
dangers for the unwary.
Two centuries ago pirates could dart out from the many uncharted inlets to wreak havoc on defenseless ships.
One hundred fifty years ago Indians massacred white settlers along the eastern coast in their last desperate
attempt to drive them out and keep the land for themselves. One hundred years ago ship salvagers, the infamous
wreckers in the Florida Keys, preyed on ships in distress, sometimes luring them onto the deadly offshore reef by
displaying false lights on the beach.
Worse than the pirates, Indians, and wreckers are the gales and hurricanes that have buffeted the Florida
coast. In the last 400 years fierce storms have beached or sunk countless ships, from Spanish treasure galleons
to luxury liners, from rum-runners to submarines. Even today treasure hunters with metal detectors scouring
beaches after a storm may find Spanish doubloons and jewelry from ages past.
Two great ocean currents flow in opposite directions off Florida’s east coast. The Gulf Stream, bright blue in
color and warmer than the surrounding Atlantic, flows north from the Gulf of Mexico, eventually reaching Europe
some 5,000 miles to the far northeast. The colder Labrador Current flows south, closer to shore, pushing
southbound ships on their way. What lies beneath that calm sea, namely the Florida Reef, has torn out the
bottom of many an unsuspecting ship that wandered onto it, with great loss of life and cargo. The Gulf of Mexico
off the west coast also has dangers in the form of sandbars, oyster beds, and mud flats, all waiting to catch a ship
unawares.
To protect ships from the many hazards along the Florida coast and to provide mariners a bearing, the federal
government began erecting lighthouses in the 1820’s, giving each structure a distinctive color for daytime
reckoning and a unique light sequence for nighttime identification. Florida presented new problems to engineers
assigned to build lighthouses along its coast, for they found that they could not simply continue building the
traditional New England brick tower. For one thing, Florida’s soft coastal sand could not support the great weight
of the large brick structures common in Maine and Massachusetts. Engineers had to come up with a new type of
foundation, especially in the Florida Keys, where waves washed over the sandbars around the lighthouses,
making islands appear, disappear, and reappear over time.
Lighthouse builders and keepers also had to contend with human conflicts on land. In the mid-1800’s,
Seminole Indians harassed builders, killed one keeper, and tried to burn Cape Florida Lighthouse to the ground.
During the Civil War, local southern sympathizers extinguished the lights of the lighthouses so that blockaderunners could move contraband under cover of darkness inland and ashore, but the lack of lights caused much
consternation among ordinary sailors looking for familiar landmarks. During World War II, lighthouse keepers
faced the dilemma of whether to light their lamps at night for the many Allied ships along the coast, knowing that
the light would also provide a clearer view for Nazi submarines lurking nearby with their torpedoes.
The fascinating story of the Florida lighthouse is one of great engineering accomplishments and lonely service
along isolated coasts. The silent sentinels that remain in the state bear testimony to a job well done. How long
they will endure depends to a great extent on their local communities and some quarter of a million annual visitors
to the towers still standing. The state’s thirty lighthouses and one lightship are, for the most part, still sending
their beams out across the sea at night and offering a welcome sight to the weary navigator.
Picture G-2-2
Information Sheet #1: Amelia Island Lighthouse
Constructed in 1838 using leftover materials from the halted construction of the
Cumberland Island Lighthouse three miles north in Georgia, the Amelia Island
Lighthouse marks the entrance to the St. Mary's River near Fernandina Beach, just north
and east of Jacksonville. Originally built on a natural hill, the 64-foot tower stands over a
hundred feet above sea level and sends out a light every ten seconds that sailors 23
miles from land can see. This lighthouse, besides being the oldest surviving lighthouse
in Florida, is able to avoid the high tides and dangerous erosion that most other Florida
lighthouses must contend with by having been built on a hill. This has allowed the
Amelia Island Lighthouse to be recognized as the oldest surviving lighthouse in Florida.
The hillside location calls for a shorter tower than most other lighthouses, though; if it
were any higher, mist and fog from the Atlantic Ocean would make it useless to sailors,
but any lower and it would be blocked by sand dunes and trees.
Prior to its construction, Amelia Island and its chief town of Fernandina Beach were
on the brink of big development. However, because of a yellow fever outbreak, the
migration of several early settlers to find jobs elsewhere, and the rise of Jacksonville as
a city of national significance to the south, Amelia Island’s planned development never
took place. However, because of the many ships that passed by the mouth of the St.
Mary’s River on their way between Jacksonville and northern cities, the federal
government ordered the building of a redbrick lighthouse that would be painted white. The importance of the
lighthouse increased during the 1850s when workers were building Florida’s first cross-state railroad from
Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key. During this time prior to the Civil War, Amelia Island became quite busy as
ships used its port for the loading and unloading of lumber, and later military equipment. After the destruction of
the railroad line following the war, the Amelia Island port attracted fewer ships.
In the early days of the lighthouse, the keeper used whale oil for fuel in order to light the lamp each evening,
and extinguished the light every morning. Later, he used kerosene, and then electricity. He also had to wind up
the heavy cables that powered the rotating mechanism and clean and polish the light thoroughly each day.
Because Amelia Island Lighthouse was smaller than other Florida lights, the keeper there did not usually have an
assistant. The light was fully automated in 1956, and is still operational and under Coast Guard management.
Information Sheet #2: Lighthouses of the St. Johns River
The juncture where the St. Johns River flows into the Atlantic Ocean is a place of uncommonly strong currents,
so strong, in fact, that the first Spanish explorers in the area nicknamed the river’s mouth “Rio de Corrientes,” or
“River of Currents.” It is also the scene of some of the nation’s heaviest river traffic, with hundreds of barges,
luxury liners, ships (including huge aircraft carriers) from the nearby Mayport Naval Air Station, large freighters,
and ordinary fishing boats converging daily. Combine these two factors with the strong northeasterly winds that
wreak havoc on the channel at the mouth of the river, and it becomes clear why Congress began allocating
money to build a lighthouse at the mouth of the St. Johns River in 1828, 17 years before Florida even became a
state.
Engineers completed the first tower in 1830, but the encroaching ocean weakened its base, causing workers
to tear it down and build a second one in 1835 about a mile up the river. Within two decades, shifting sands and
the strong river current threatened to undermine that tower as well, and engineers rebuilt the lighthouse for the
third time in 1859, across the river from where it had stood before. The new red-brick tower was used for
guidance in the changing, narrow channel of the St. Johns River until a Southern supporter shot out the light.
During the rest of the war, ship navigators had to rely on lantern’s in the area, which was a risky measure that put
ships at risk. After the war, engineers repaired the light and raised the tower fifteen feet to its current height.
In 1954, a modern-looking beacon named the St. Johns Light Station was constructed on the eastern edge of
Mayport Naval Air Station, one mile from the old lighthouse. Afterwards, the Navy considered tearing down the
old lighthouse because they deemed it a threat to low-flying military aircraft, but angry residents successfully
banded together to prevent it. Many residents felt that the lighthouse actually caused the Navy’s planes to fly
higher than they might have otherwise, thereby lessening the noise in areas surrounding the base.
Whereas the older red-brick lighthouse is more pleasing to the eye, especially for fans of nostalgic-looking
lighthouses, the newer tower, made completely of concrete, is much more appealing to the mariner for its
dependability and accuracy. With a light that can be seen 22 miles out at sea, the new light station also is fully
automated and has an alarm system that alerts the nearby Coast Guard station in the event of a malfunction.
Picture G-2-3: St. Johns River
Lighthouse and map
Picture G-2-4: St. Johns Light
Station and map
Information Sheet #3: The St. Johns Lightship
When mariners complained about the inadequacies of the St. Johns River Lighthouse (not tall enough, light
wasn’t bright enough) in the 1800’s, city planners interested in the development of Jacksonville as a world-class
city urged federal authorities to place a lightship several miles out at sea from the mouth of the river. They argued
that a lightship with a double set of lamps, a loud foghorn, and a tolling bell could better guide ships into port,
especially during the dreaded fogs that covered the area. At times, when the fog was at its thickest, ships had to
pass dangerously close to the ever-shifting shore to see a lighthouse, if they could even see it at all. Proponents
of the lightship pointed out that a lightship would enable any vessel to establish its position five miles from the
river’s mouth, which could be critically important during a storm or fog. Furthermore, nearby cities like Savannah,
Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, had lightships in addition to their lighthouses and prospered
commercially.
Lightships had a long history of helping navigators find their way past treacherous shores. Historians believe
that the first lightships belonged to the Romans. Thousands of years ago, Roman galleys patrolling the coasts
placed lighted firebaskets on the masthead to help merchant ships find places of commerce. Closer to our own
time, some 18th-century British ships suspended two lanterns from a crossarm as an aid to ships sailing the
Thames River at night.
Eventually, nature helped decide the issue. In 1922, two ships ran aground at the mouth of the St. Johns
several months apart, both in dense fog. Everyone agreed that it was time for action, but it took another seven
years before the Lightship No. 84, which had been built in New Jersey in 1907 and renamed Brunswick, was
moved from its position in Brunswick, Georgia, to a site off the St. Johns. In 1929, the ship was renamed the St.
Johns, painted yellow, and was anchored seven miles offshore in almost 60 feet of water. The lightship took the
place of the St. Johns River Lighthouse, which was shut down.
The lightship served a useful purpose, but it did have its disadvantages, too. The crew of 8-10 men living
aboard the ship constantly fought seasickness, loneliness, and boredom from living in a confined ship with only
the company of an occasional fisherman or yachtsman to break the numbing routine. Even with an increase of
20% sea duty pay in addition to their regular pay and an eight-day leave for every twenty days at sea, many men
found the boredom excruciating. Moreover, storms blew the lightship from its moorings twice in 1947, and many
ships were in danger of running aground for several hours afterward as the St. Johns struggled to get back in
position. There was also the constant danger of collisions with larger ships.
Finally in 1954, with the construction of the St. Johns Light Station at Mayport, the lightship was taken out of
service. Number 84 then served as a relief lightship in New York before the Coast Guard decommissioned it in
1965. By 1985 all lightships around the nation had been deactivated. Ownership of the old lightship changed
hands several times before it sank in the Erie Basin, New York City, in 1996. Only its two masts are visible.
There has been an effort in and around Jacksonville to purchase the old ship, refurbish it, and turn it into a
museum anchored in the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, but nothing has happened as of this writing.
Picture G-2-5: The St. Johns Lightship
Number of Lightships in Service per Year in
the USA
Year
#
1920
49
1930
44
1940
25
1950
28
1960
24
1970
9
1985
0
Picture G-2-6: The St.
Information Sheet #4: St. Augustine Lighthouse Augustine Lighthouse
The stately, diagonally striped lighthouse on Anastasia Island at the entrance to
St. Augustine’s inlets probably the most visually striking of Florida’s lighthouses.
Indeed, many visitors have stated that the tower resembles a huge barber pole.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse was also the first built in Florida.
A much earlier version of the lighthouse, a lookout tower used by the Spanish in
the sixteenth century to warn St. Augustine’s residents of approaching danger,
attracted the attention of English sea captain Sir Francis Drake, who was heading
north along the coast of Florida in May 1586. While investigating the tower more
closely, his forces discovered the Spanish town across the Matanzas River and
burned it to the ground. Almost 200 years later, during the time that England
controlled Florida, the English built a tower on the same spot and put a cannon at
the top. Sentries fired the cannon to signal to the town when a ship approached,
and at night tended a large fire to guide vessels along the coast.
Spain regained the territory of Florida from the English in 1783, but finally ceded
it to the United States in 1821. Three years later, a lighthouse was built on
Anastasia Island that was 73 feet above sea level, with an oil lamp that was visible
from 14 miles out at sea.
When the American Civil War broke out, Confederate supporters put out the
light, and it remained out of commission until 1867. As the sea crept closer and
closer to the original structure much land around the tower was eroded. Authorities
obtained five acres of land a half-mile away and began constructing a new tower in
1871. The ocean continued to erode the nearby land, eventually coming to within ten feet of the rising
brick-and-iron tower. Engineers hurriedly began mining a nearby quarry for soft limestone called coquina,
a material made of shell fragments and coral that was also used in the construction of the Castillo de San
Marcos, the famous fort in St. Augustine. Workers built a jetty of coquina in time to hold back the ocean
and finish the construction of the new tower, finishing it in 1874. The new tower had a lamp that could be
seen from almost 20 miles out at sea. In addition to the oil lamp, a flashing light every thirty seconds
could be seen at 24 miles out at sea. The old 1824 tower finally fell into the sea in 1880.
The original oil lamps gave way to first kerosene, then electricity. Instead of hauling three gallons of
fuel up 227 steps every night at dusk, the keeper only needed to turn on a switch at the base of the tower.
While the keeper’s logbook seldom mentioned anything more than weather conditions and infrequent
visitors, occasionally something unusual would occur, such as on the night of August 31, 1886. That
evening, the keeper noted, “An Earthquake passed through the Station at 9:20PM. The tower swayed in
a violent manner. No damage was done to the station.” One doesn’t usually think of earthquakes as one
of Florida’s natural disasters, but they have occurred.
During World War II, the light was reduced in power in order to keep enemy submarines from spotting
ships that passed near the light and torpedo them. Today, the tower has an automatic flashing light that
signals every thirty seconds, continuing to guide mariners as it has for almost two centuries.
Information Sheet #5: Cape Canaveral Lighthouse
The hook of sand fifty miles south of Daytona Beach and midway down the east coast of Florida now known as
Cape Canaveral was most likely the part of Florida that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first sighted on March
27, 1513, as he sailed from Puerto Rico in search of gold, glory, and the fabled Fountain of Youth. He named the
area Cabo de las Corrientes, or “Cape of the Currents,” after the strong offshore currents. Other Spanish
explorers who came to the area later used the name Canaveral, which meant “place of reeds” or “place of canes,”
possibly referring to the reed arrows that the local Ais Indians used to drive off the Spanish explorers.
Over three hundred years later, dozens of shipwrecks in the waters around Cape Canaveral showed the
necessity of a permanent lighthouse on the cape. In 1848, a navigational aid was constructed, but many seamen
continued to complain because of the inadequacy of the 60-foot tower. One sailor lamented, “The lights
on…Canaveral, if not improved, had better be dispensed with, as the navigator is apt to run ashore looking for
them."
In 1860, engineers began building a 145-foot tower to replace the first one, but the outbreak of the Civil War
halted the work. Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory ordered all lighthouses on southern shores
to shut down in order to keep Federal troops from landing in the area at night. Lighthouse keeper Captain Mills
Burnham complied, burying vital pieces of the lighthouse in his orange grove near the Banana River. When the
war ended in 1865, Burnham dug up the equipment and returned it to the United States government. Workers
resumed building the tower, which was finally completed in 1868. A new lens and a change from whale oil fuel to
kerosene enabled sailors 18 miles out at sea to see the new light. In 1873, the tower was painted with black and
white horizontal bands. The sea made steady progress toward the lighthouse in the years after its completion,
forcing workers to take the tower down and rebuild it at its present site a mile farther inland in 1894.
The Coast Guard took over the lighthouse in 1939, as it did throughout the nation. During World War II,
German submarines continually torpedoed Allied shipping in the deep waters several miles off Florida’s coast.
During one period, subs sank 24 ships; though the Coast Guard was able to save the lives of over 500 men,
many more died at sea. Lighthouse keepers were usually the first to alert the Coast Guard of explosions at sea,
but they soon faced a dilemma; should they keep the lights burning at night, enabling ships to see the shore but
endangering them by making them visible to German U-boats, or turn the lights off? Authorities finally diminished
the intensity of the light at Cape Canaveral until the war’s end.
After the war, the Cape was selected as a test site for the nation's missiles. Many of the first rocket tests for
NASA were conducted close to the lighthouse. Finally, in 1967 the lighthouse was automated and unmanned.
Today, the lighthouse is fully operational (though closed to the public), guiding yachts, freighters, and Polaris
submarines as they make their way to Port Canaveral.
Picture G-2-7: Cape Canaveral’s lighthouse
Information Sheet #6: Cape Florida Lighthouse
The majestic white tower that stands guard over the southeastern tip of Key Biscayne has seen more drama
than any of the Florida’s other lighthouses. Built in 1825, the formation marks the reef four miles offshore and
guides ships through the Florida Channel to the eastern side of Key Biscayne. The builder was supposed to have
constructed a 65-foot tower with solid walls of brick five feet thick at its base, tapering to two feet at the top, but he
scrimped on his materials.
The outbreak of the Second Seminole War in 1835 brought Indian attacks on white soldiers and settlers in
Florida, and lighthouses were not spared from this violence. On July 23, 1836, Seminole Indians overwhelmed
the lighthouse. John Thompson, the assistant keeper, and a helper named Aaron Carter fled into the tower as the
Indians rushed them, guns blazing (the lighthouse’s keeper, James Dubose, was staying in Key West, waiting for
the danger to dissolve). Thompson fired his three muskets at the attackers, keeping them at bay until nightfall.
The Indians then set fire to the door, which soon ignited a 225-gallon oil tank. Thompson and Henry took a keg of
gunpowder, bullets, and a musket to the top of the tower and began cutting away the ladder to prevent the Indians
from climbing it. The raging fire forced the two men onto the two-foot wide outside platform.
Carter soon died from multiple bullet wounds, and Thompson suffered three bullet wounds in each foot. In an
act of desperation, Thompson flung the keg of gunpowder onto the stairs of the lighthouse, hoping to kill himself
to avoid further suffering. The blast destroyed the lighthouse's interior wooden stairway, keeping the fire from
further injuring Thompson. He then considered killing himself by jumping off the tower but then noticed a shift in
the wind and the fire lessening. Thompson feigned death, and the Indians later withdrew. Later, he wrote, “I was
almost as bad off as before; a burning fever on me, my feet shot to pieces, no clothes to cover me, nothing to eat
or drink, a hot sun overhead, a dead man by my side, no friend near or any to expect, and placed between 70 and
80 feet from the earth with no chance of getting down. My situation was truly horrible.”
The crew of a U.S. Navy schooner, who had heard the explosion of the gunpowder keg from 12 miles away
and came to investigate, rescued Thompson the next day. To get Thompson down, the sailors fired a ramrod
with a piece of string tied to it over the top of the lighthouse. Thompson caught the string and was able to haul a
heavier rope to the tower's top. Two seaman hoisted to the top hauled the injured Thompson down. It was later
reported that the top of the lighthouse had more than 200 bullet holes in it.
Because of the continued threat of Indian attacks in the area, the lighthouse was not repaired until 1846, after
it was discovered that the original builder had built hollow walls for the tower instead of solid ones. Even after
rebuilding, the light was still not visible to beam the light above the surrounding reefs, and surveyors warned that
ships would run aground looking for the light. Finally, in 1855, the lighthouse was raised from 65 feet to 95 feet.
After the light was destroyed in the Civil War in 1861 and repaired five years later, ships could still not see it.
When the nearby Fowey Rocks Lighthouse was lit in 1878, the Cape Florida Lighthouse closed down. In June
1978, 100 years after it was turned off, the Coast Guard reinstalled a light that could be seen from seven miles
away because many boaters were running aground while looking for the entrance to the Cape Florida Channel at
night.
Picture G-2-8: Cape Florida Lighthouse
Picture G-2-9
Information Sheet #7: Fowey Rocks Lighthouse
Florida was the first part of the United States discovered by Europeans but was
the last settled and therefore the last on the eastern seaboard to have a series of
lighthouses built. The disadvantage of being settled last was that for many years
ships traveling up and down the poorly charted and sparsely lit Florida coast ran
aground on sandbars or wrecked on coral reefs. The advantage to the late
settlement was that, when Congress decided to build lighthouses along the coast,
engineers could take advantage of the latest technology in both tower construction
and lighting equipment.
Designers of lighthouses for the Florida Keys could not build the massive towers
used for other locales in peninsular Florida because of the great weight involved, the
ever-shifting sands of the islands, and the constant buffeting of sea and wind.
Engineers came up with a structure that offered little mass for wind and water to
batter, and a foundation that did not settle into sand or dirt. The Fowey Rocks
Lighthouse is an example of this type of lighthouse.
Named for the British warship HMS Fowey, which was wrecked on the nearby reef
in 1748, this lighthouse was finished in 1878, when it took the place of the nearby
Cape Florida light. It was not the first lighthouse of the Florida Reef (that would be
the tower at Carysfort Reef), but it is a prime example of the kind of ingenuity that
went into the construction of all of the Florida Reef beacons. In building the Fowey Rocks tower, workers lived on
a platform over the water at the site in order to minimize the danger of transporting them and their supplies out
each day from the mainland. Living on the platform provided other dangers: on two separate nights the workers
expected to meet their deaths when they saw two large steamers bearing down on them, unaware of the location
of the reef. Both times the ships ran aground, further pointing out the necessity for a lighthouse there.
The construction of the lighthouse at Fowey Rocks and similar reef towers at Carysfort Reef, Alligator Key,
Sombrero Key, American Shoal, and Sand Key required powerful steam engines that lifted a 2,000-pound pile
driver 18 feet; each blow of this one-ton hammer drove the iron pilings that make up the tower structure one inch
into the coral rock, making a strong foundation that has lasted for over a century.
The keepers of these light stations have seen their share of fierce storms. The worst one, the Labor Day
hurricane of 1935, had winds in excess of 200 miles an hour, a 20-foot storm wave, and a force that killed more
than 400 people in the Keys. It destroyed the Overseas Railroad from Florida’s mainland to Key West, but it left
the Florida Reef lighthouses virtually intact (the Fowey Rocks tower lost its first deck, which was fifteen feet above
normal sea level) due to the spindly nature of the towers and the way that they offered little resistance to the
mighty winds and waves, which passed right through the supports.
Life for the keeper and his support was lonely before the reef towers were fully automated after World War II
[Today, Fowey Rocks continues on as a active Coast Guard (unmanned) aid to navigation. It is closed to the
public, but you can visit the lighthouse and see it really up close from a boat (watch out for the rocks if you have a
big boat!)]. One keeper of the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, Jefferson Browne, took advantage of the solitude by
reading law books. After fifteen months, he left the lighthouse service and entered law school at the University of
Iowa, where he earned a law degree in less than two years, a shorter time than normal because of his prior
preparation. After graduating, he became the attorney for Key West and Monroe County, and later served on the
Florida Supreme Court.
Information Sheet #8: Key West Lighthouse
The name “Key West” comes from the Spanish cayo hueso, which means “bone island.” The first Spanish
explorers on the island in the early sixteenth century found many human bones, either the remains of
shipwrecked sailors or victims of Indian raids. After the United States took possession of the island, and the rest
of Florida, in 1821, Commodore Matthew Perry stressed the need for lighthouses on the Florida Keys. At the
time, wreckers made a living working out of Key West. These men were sailors, immigrants, and local fishermen.
Many of them were honest salvagers, but many others were greedy scavengers who would actually lure ships
onto the surrounding reefs and make money by then salvaging parts of the ruined boats. These men opposed
any construction of a lighthouse.
The first lighthouse in Key West was a 65-foot tower built in 1825 on Whitehead Point, and the first keeper was
Michael Mabrity. He died in 1832, and his wife Barbara, took his place, partly because she knew the job well and
also because it provided her with a means of support for herself and her six fatherless children. She went on to
serve as keeper of the Key West lighthouse for almost three decades. This was extraordinary because in the
early days of lighthouse service it was highly unusual for women to serve as lighthouse keepers. As male
keepers died, though, more and more widows applied to become keepers in part due to Mrs. Mabrity’s success.
Even the townspeople of Key West praised her for her efforts. By 1861, Mrs. Mabrity’s last year as keeper, there
were fifteen female lighthouse keepers around the nation.
A hurricane in 1846 hit Key West, destroying the lighthouse and killing fourteen people who had sought safety
inside of the tower. The storm had previously devastated Havana, Cuba, but no advance warning reached Key
West. The U.S.S. Morris survived the storm, but reported three ships had sunk, four capsized and "a white sand
beach covers the spot where Key West Lighthouse stood.” The next year a new 66-foot tower was constructed
on higher ground and further inland to protect it from storms. As the surrounding city grew by the decade, tall
buildings and trees partially blocked view of the tower, so in 1894 workers added 20 feet to the top, making it 86
feet tall. Because the base of the tower sits on land that is fifteen feet above sea level, the light is 100 feet above
sea level.
When the Oversea Railroad to Key West was completed in 1912, the small island was finally connected to
mainland Florida. By then, Key West was a thriving town with profitable industries in cigar-making, sponges, and
fishing, and Henry Flagler, the man who paid for the Overseas Railroad, hoped to profit on Key West’s tropical
location by encouraging tourism. However, his hopes never came to realization. In 1935, a disastrous hurricane
wiped out most of the railroad. The federal government then bought up the surviving bridges and built an
Overseas Highway for cars in 1938, and tourism quickly established itself as Key West’s leading industry.
The Coast Guard removed the lighthouse from active service in 1969, and it has since been made into a
museum. More than 150,000 of the annual million-plus visitors to Key West see the lighthouse each year. In
1989, the lighthouse was restored to its turn-of-the-20th-century appearance.
Picture G-2-10: Key West Lighthouse
Information Sheet #9: Lighthouses of Boca Grande
Picture G-2-11: Port
Boca Grande Lighthouse
At the southern tip of Gasparilla Island off the coast of Charlotte County sits a
houselike structure called the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse that guards the
entrance to Charlotte Harbor and the busy channel and points the way to the 60foot-deep pass and its famous tarpon fishing. Gasparilla Island took its name, so
the legend goes, from a renegade Spanish naval officer, Jose Gaspar (Tampa’s
annual Gasparilla Festival takes its name from him as well). In 1822, Gaspar
and his pirates ran down what appeared to be a large British merchant ship. Just
as Gaspar’s gang was about to board the captured ship, the British flag was
lowered and the U.S. flag was raised. It had been a ruse to capture or kill
Gaspar and his gang of buccaneers! The American ship fired its cannons pointblank into the pirate ship. Refusing to be captured, Gaspar wrapped himself in an anchor chain and threw himself
overboard to his death. Ten of the crew were captured and hanged, but a few who made it to shore escaped.
It is debatable whether or not Jose Gaspar and his band of pirates ever existed. Some say that the source of
the name may have come from a Spanish missionary priest in the 1500’s, a Friar Gaspar, but the elegant town of
Boca Grande does exist. Meaning “large entrance” or “big mouth” in Spanish, Boca Grande has been the site of
a wide and easily navigated pass that large freighters have been using for more than a century. When phosphate
was discovered near Bartow, Florida, in the 1880’s, and advanced mining techniques led to more production of
the mineral, a long pier for phosphate ships was built that extended into the deep water to the east of the tip of
Gasparilla Island. Then, this port was dredged deep enough to accommodate large ships. By the 1890’s, barges
transferred phosphate from the Peace River area to oceangoing vessels in deep water off of Boca Grande.
In 1890, construction was completed on the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse on the southern tip of Gasparilla
Island. Built on a pile foundation, it was a one-story, white frame dwelling with a shingled roof. On top was a
black lantern that displayed a fixed white light interrupted by a red flash that warned ships of the hazardous Boca
Grande Pass. Because the light was to serve the harbor and not the Gulf of Mexico to the west, it could be lower
than other towers along the coast.
About a mile north-northwest from the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is a taller, gangly structure with a black
lantern 105 feet above sea level. This lighthouse, known as the Entrance Range Rear Lighthouse, was built after
phosphate companies, needing a quicker, more efficient way of getting the mineral to Charlotte Harbor than
taking it by slow barge down the Peace River, built a direct railroad to Boca Grande. Because the increased
demand meant more harbor traffic into and out of the Gulf, another lighthouse was needed to aid ships. When a
ship lined up the two lights so that one was directly on top of the other, the ship’s captain knew that the ship was
in midchannel.
Nowadays, Boca Grande is known more for tourism and world-class tarpon fishing than for a major central
Florida industry. As a reminder to its former importance to the phosphate industry, though, both lighthouses in
Boca Grande are still fully functional.
Location of Port
Picture G-2-12: Entrance Rear Range Lighthouse
Boca Grande Light
Information Sheet #10: Egmont Key Lighthouse
Egmont Key is a small island, just over one-and-a-half miles long and a half-mile wide. It sits near Egmont
Channel, Tampa Bay’s main shipping channel that serves several thousand ships a year as they go to and from
Tampa and St. Petersburg. Lying only three or four feet above sea level, the island is at the mercy of wind and
waves but, because of its lack of human settlement, supports a colony of turtles, large foot-and-a-half-long lizards,
and rattlesnakes, not to mention poison ivy.
The great Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon may have been the first European to see the island, but it
almost certain that later explorers like Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando de Soto also visited the island. The tiny
island received its name during the British territorial period when surveyor George Gauld named it after John
Perceval, second Earl of Egmont.
During the 1830’s, when the only lighthouses that marked Florida’s west coast were Key West and St. Marks
(just south of Tallahassee), the citizens of Key West and nearby Sanibel asked the federal government to build a
lighthouse marking the entrance to Tampa Bay. In 1848, after an army colonel named Robert E. Lee made a
survey of the southern coast and recommended that a lighthouse be placed on the island out of military necessity,
the government paid for the construction of the lighthouse on Egmont Key. Later that year, two fierce hurricanes
threatened to damage the new tower to the point that it would topple, so engineers later tore the structure down
and built a stronger one on the old foundation. That white tower, completed in 1858, is still standing today and
fully operational, having withstood several strong hurricanes. If you visit Fort De Soto at Pinellas County Park on
Mullet Key and you look south across Tampa Bay at dusk, you can see the lighthouse beacon.
Authorities used Egmont Key in the 1850’s as a temporary holding area for Seminole Indians being shipped to
the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. At the beginning of the Civil War, when Union ships blocked the
entrance to Tampa Bay, Confederate blockade-runners used the island as a base until Union forces captured it in
July 1861. Then, federal troops used it as a military base and prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate sailors.
Later in the war, the federal government also used the island as a cemetery for Union and Confederate soldiers
alike, but when the cemetery was closed in 1909, all of the remains were exhumed and sent the bodies to
national cemeteries elsewhere.
In the 20th century, Egmont Key has been used as a military base, an ammunition storage facility, a defensive
position guarding Tampa Bay during times of war, and a harbor entrance patrol station. After World War II, the
Coast Guard tended the lighthouse. The men stationed there in the 1970’s and 1980’s enjoyed several perks to
lessen the boredom of being stationed on an otherwise uninhabited island; air conditioning, TV, VCR, a pool
table, dart board, fully-equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, computer, and stereo system. They also snorkeled,
fished, and swam often. In 1990, though, the Egmont Key lighthouse became one of the last in the nation to
become fully automated.
Fort De Soto (3 miles from Egmont)
Picture G-2-13: Egmont Key Lighthouse
Egmont Key Lighthouse
Information Sheet #11: Anclote Keys Lighthouse
Picture G-2-14: Anclote Key
Lighthouse
Anclote Key off the west coast near Tarpon Springs has the distinction of
being in two counties: Pasco and Pinellas. The federal government owns the
island, which is now a state park and a wildlife refuge. The island is about 2.5
miles long and consists of oaks, pines, and shrubs. The word anclote is
Spanish, meaning “anchor,” and the name of the island and the river that
empties into the Gulf of Mexico near the island came from Spanish fishermen
who once sailed into the Anclote River to take on fresh water before the long trip
back to Cuba. They would anchor in the river near Tarpon Springs and sell
some of their catch. Tarpon Springs would later become the center of the
American sponge industry and still later, a fishing port. Mullet and grouper ran in
the summer and mackerel, trout, and bluefish in the winter.
Congress approved the construction of a lighthouse on Anclote Key in 1885.
The 102-foot Anclote Keys lighthouse was built in 1887, being first lit on
September 15 of that year. The island's name is pluralized because several
smaller islands are sometimes connected to the northern end of the main island.
The southern end of the island was chosen for the lighthouse site because its
land appeared to be more stable. Beach erosion was never serious enough to
threaten the station and the tower was never rebuilt or removed.
Originally two families lived on the island to tend the lighthouse. During the
Spanish-American War in 1898, when a Spanish naval attack was feared along
Florida’s Gulf Coast, the lightkeepers were given a small cannon for selfdefense, but never had a reason to use it. One keeper kept pigs on the island, letting them wander freely until
Cuban boat crews came ashore and stole them. Mosquitoes were an even bigger problem than pig-stealing
bandits; not even drainage ditches that were dug in the 1930’s did much to alleviate the insect problem. The
logbook kept by the keepers mentions several times that the bugs kept the keepers from working outdoors.
Because the island was so close to the mainland, the keeper or his assistant often traveled by boat to Tarpon
Springs. Several times a week one man went across the water to attend church, get supplies, pick up the mail, or
attend a party. The island also enjoyed more visitors than other lighthouse sites, especially on weekends when
people sailed over for the day to picnic and swim. Of course, life was not always fun and games for the keepers
of the Anclote Keys lighthouse. They were involved in several rescues, saving two people from a capsized boat
in 1891 and two more in 1903. In 1919, there were three rescues including two sponge divers whose boat had
broken down. When rescued, the sponge divers had run out of both food and water.
The Coast Guard automated the light in 1952, but discontinued its use in 1985 as other, smaller lights
surrounding the island provided sufficient navigational aid. Vandalism posed recurring problems after 1952, when
no keepers lived at the lighthouse. Recently, on September 13, 2003, the lighthouse was reactivated as part of a
restoration of the entire island. A new dock was completed, a boardwalk was constructed, and one of the
lighthouse keeper’s dwellings was restored.
Picture G-2-15: Pensacola Lighthouse
Information Sheet #12: Pensacola Lighthouse
Pensacola is the second oldest city in Florida. Originally founded by Spanish
explorer Don Tristan de Luna in 1559 (six years before Florida’s oldest city, St.
Augustine, was founded), the early settlers of Pensacola abandoned the site two
years later. In 1698, the Spanish successfully settled the city and named it for a
nearby Indian tribe, the Pansfalaya, which meant “long-haired people” and referred to
the way the tribe’s members wore their hair.
In 1821, the United States accepted the transfer of Florida from Spain, and
Pensacola became the first capital of the Territory of West Florida. Soon after, the
federal government became interested in constructing a naval storage base in the
area; Pensacola’s port was the deepest port on the northern Gulf of Mexico, and the
young American government felt it practical to use that port to protect commerce in
the Gulf and Caribbean regions. At that point, the United States did not have a naval
base in the Gulf of Mexico. The need for a lighthouse was also seen.
Before a lighthouse could be built, a lightship, the Aurora Borealis, was sent from
New Orleans to serve the harbor when a newly-constructed lighthouse had made it
obsolete. Maintaining a lightship was an expensive proposition. Early lightships provided a weak light, and they
were unreliable during storms; sea conditions were too rough at Pensacola and so the lightship was moored just
inside the bay, even during good weather. That diminished the lightship’s effectiveness even more because ships
at sea could not see it. Furthermore, the lightship was unavailable when under repair. For these reasons, the
lightship was a temporary measure in place only until a lighthouse could be built. Congress approved the funding
for the construction of a lighthouse in 1823.
It took only two months to build the tower. An adjacent keeper's dwelling was completed only a few days later.
It was located on a 40-foot hill just west of the old Spanish fort named Fort San Carlos de Barrancas in an area
that had been the fort's cemetery years before. It was the fourth lighthouse erected in Florida. The tower was only
40 feet tall (making the light 8o feet above sea level) and was first lit on December 20, 1826. Complaints about
the lighthouse started early. The workmanship and quality of material used for the tower left much to be desired.
Its low height and nearby trees blocked the light from view from some directions to seaward. Improvements to the
reflector lenses and windows in 1847 failed to improve the quality of the light sufficiently.
Because of complaints about the old tower, the present tower was authorized in 1854. It was first lit on January
1, 1859. It was located on the same ridge as the original lighthouse, but another 1,600 feet further west where it
could be used to establish a range for crossing the bay's entrance bar. The present lighthouse is 160 feet tall,
making it the fourth tallest brick lighthouse in the nation.
During the Civil War, the tower was completely white, but today the lower third is white and the upper part is
black. In 1914, the federal government established the first training base for navy pilots in Pensacola, making the
city the cradle of naval aviation. Though the Navy has viewed the lighthouse as a hazard to its planes, public
sentiment has prevented its destruction. Operated by the Coast Guard since 1939, today the lighthouse holds
four 1,000-watt bulbs in the light, though only one is used at a time. When the bulb in use burns out, the next one
rotates into place. The beacon’s light can be seen 27 miles out to sea.
Overhead Transparency G-2-1
Preview Assignment #1
Picture G-2-16: Alligator Reef Light
1.
2.
3.
4.
Picture G-2-17: Jupiter Inlet Light
What are these buildings?
Write down at least three differences between these two buildings,
then write down at least one similarity.
Why do you think the building on the left was built over water? Why
do you think the building on the right was built on a hill, above the
trees?
Which one, do you think, would have a better chance of outlasting a
hurricane? Which one is built on more solid ground?
Notes on Florida Lighthouses
Directions: Fill in the corresponding boxes with the appropriate information from your lighthouse information sheets. After you have
completed filling in the boxes for the appropriate lighthouse, take the info to your teacher to be checked. If the information is
correct, you will then be given another information sheet.
#1
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Amelia Island
Lighthouse
#2
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Cape Florida
Lighthouse
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Cape Canaveral
Lighthouse
#6
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
St. Augustine
Lighthouse
#5
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
St. Johns Lightship
#4
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Lighthouses of the
St. Johns River
#3
Still operational?
Three interesting facts:
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
#7
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Fowey Rocks
Lighthouse
#8
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Three interesting facts:
Year it was built?
Pensacola
Lighthouse
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Anclote Keys
Lighthouse
#12
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Egmont Key
Lighthouse
#11
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Lighthouses of Boca
Grande
#10
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Key West Lighthouse
#9
Still operational?
Three interesting facts:
Still operational?
(if yes, what year did it
become fully automated?)
Amelia Island Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
Amelia Island Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Lighthouses of the St. Johns River Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place pictures of
Lighthouses of the St. Johns River
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
The St. Johns Lightship Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
The St. Johns Lightship
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) ________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
St. Augustine Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the St. Augustine Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Cape Florida Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Cape Florida Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Fowey Rocks Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Key West Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Key West Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Lighthouses of Boca Grande Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place pictures of
the Lighthouses of Boca Grande
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Egmont Key Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Egmont Key Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Anclote Keys Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Anclote Keys Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Pensacola Lighthouse Fact Sheet
3 Interesting Facts
1.) ___________________________________________________
Place picture of
the Pensacola Lighthouse
Here
_____________________________________________________
2.) _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3.) __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_
Year constructed/implemented: ______________
Group Members:
Amelia Island Lighthouse
St. Johns Lightship
Lighthouses of the St. Johns River
St. Augustine Lighthouse
Cape Canaveral Lighthouse
Cape Florida Lighthouse
Fowey Rocks Lighthouse
Key West Lighthouse
Lighthouses of Boca Grande
Anclote Keys Lighthouse
Egmont Key Lighthouse
Pensacola Lighthouse
Assessment
1.) Lighthouses were built on Florida’s long coastline to:
a. serve as markers for ships traveling in the waters around Florida;
b. alert ship captains to areas of settlement;
c. act as safety beacons for ships sailing in dangerous shallows or at night;
d. all of the above
2.) True or false. Florida’s sandy soil presented an obstacle to engineers trying to build lighthouses in Florida,
because it would not support the great weight of the typical brick towers found on the rocky coasts of New
England.
3.) To the left is a picture of the lighthouse at Fowey Rocks, off the east coast
of Florida. Why would this tower have been built over water?
4.) Why were all of Florida’s lighthouses painted in different color patterns and given different light sequences?
5.) Are most of Florida’s lighthouses still used today? Do you think that this is due to nostalgia or practical reasons?
Explain your answer.
6.) What are some advantages to fully automating those lighthouses still in use, as opposed to having a keeper live
near the lighthouse? What are some disadvantages?
Resources
McCarthy, Kevin M. “Florida Lighthouses.” University of Florida Press; Gainesville, FL (1990).
http://users.erols.com/lthouse/home.htm -Florida Lighthouse Page
http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/maritime/lighthouses/lighthouses.cfm -Florida Maritime Heritage Trail
http://www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/light/fl.htm -National Park Service Maritime Heritage Program’s Inventory of
Historic Light Stations
http://www.anclotekey.com/ -The relighting of the Anclote Keys Lighthouse
http://www.worldskip.com/7wonders/lighthouse.html -Seven Wonders of the Ancient World