FLORIDA LIGHTHOUSE TOUR

Below is an excerpt from John’s lighthouse journal. He details our tour of four Florida Coast Lighthouses. Regular readers of this blog know that we have a bit of a lighthouse obsession (see earlier entries on Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Corsewall LH in Scotland.)


Place: Jacksonville to Daytona Beach, Florida
Via the coast for an intensive lighthouse tour

Remarks: We headed north to Amelia Island and the Victorian town of Fernandina Beach, the first resort town in Florida. Our first stop was the Amelia Island History Museum that had just opened at 10 AM and I procured a tee shirt and a lighthouse stamp for my L H passport. Though the Amelia Island Lighthouse itself is not open to the public, the gate guarding the Coast Guard facility was open so we drove in for a couple of pictures of this purported oldest building on the island.






Then we headed south down highway A1A where we took a $5 ferry to cross the St. Johns River and a quick stop to photograph the St. Johns River Light. The smart looking lighthouse is beyond razor wire fence protecting the navy base and public access is not allowed.







We continued down the coastal highway to Vilano Beach where we turned west to cross the Tolomato River. That brought us to the center of historic St. Augustine where we viewed the old buildings from the car but continued south on A1A over the Bridge of Lions that crosses the Matanzas River. A short distance away was our next stop to visit St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. The view from the top was spectacular and our breath was taken away particularly by the 219 steps we climbed to get there. The tower is 167 feet high and features the original working first order Fresnel lens. After a few purchases at the gift shop and procuring a passport stamp, we had one more lighthouse on our itinerary so hurried south down A1A.





When we reached Palm Coast we shifted over to I 95 realizing the day was slipping by and we had to make better time. We flew east on highway 421 and over the Halifax River to rejoin A1A at Daytona Beach Shores. It was 5 PM when we reached Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse where the Indian River begins with plenty of time when we found they close at 9 PM. We spent an hour and a half touring the buildings and the 175 foot tower. There are fewer steps to the top at 203 than at Augustine but they are steeper. In fact a keeper some years ago suffered a heart attack and died while ascending these steps to light the beacon. The lens was a first order replaced by a third order in 1933 which was deactivated in 1970. The society valiantly restored and replaced the third order to working order a couple of years ago. We watched a twenty minute video depicting the construction and operation of the facility to the present day. The transfer of the station from government to private aid to navigation including reconstruction and refurbishing and excellent condition of the entire station was impressive. More purchases included a book of worldwide lighthouse inns and a passport stamp cost one dollar. By the way, my U. S. L H Society card got us in free at Augustine but only 10% off here. Today was certainly an immersion in lighthouse lore.

A few notes: the United States Lighthouse Society sponsors a lighthouse stamp program that it administered much like the National Park stamp program. You purchase a Lighthouse Passport and participating lighthouses will stamp it in return for a minimum donation of $1. When the passport is full you can mail it to the LH Society and they will award you a patch.

Florida has 44 lighthouses. Counting the four above we have visited 9 in all in this state and 62 in the world.

Our next lighthouse visit will be an overnight stay at Lake Superior’s Two Harbors Light in Two Harbors, MN next month. Read about it here! My post on Disney World will be next…

Thank you for your help with the post John!