Florida - Edmont Key Lighthouse

The Edmont Key Lighthouse is located on a barrier island at the mouth of Tampa Bay, FL. This solitary brick structure is the second of two sentinels which have guarded this important stretch of coast since the early 1840's. The first was built of brick in 1848 at a height of 40-feet. Edgmont Key Light was the only beacon between Key West and St Marks, a distance of 400 miles. Hungry waves undermined that tower's foundation and the erosion continued . It was decided to construct this taller, stronger brick tower at this location approximately 90-feet from where the original tower stood. It was finished in 1857 and stood 87-foot high.

In 1974, Edgmont Key was declared a National Wildlife Refuge. The Coast Guard automated the lighthouse in 1989, and reassigned their personnel elsewhere. At the time of my visit here in 2000, the Florida Park Service co-managed the island.

I took this picture from the grounds of Fort DeSoto, Mullet Key, FL, and as of that time this was an active light.

Florida - Loggerhead Key Lighthouse

The Loggerhead Key Lighthouse is located 2.6 miles west of Garden Key, FL and 70-miles west of Key West, FL. This lighthouse was built in 1858 to replace the inadequate Dry Tortugas Lighthouse at Garden Key. (See my previous post pertaining to the Dry Tortugas Lighthouse.)

The light on Loggerhead Key is on top of a 146-foot tower which is 28-feet in diameter. Within the tapering brick walls are 203 circular granite steps which lead upward to the watch room beneath a narrow gallery and lantern room. From here a mammoth first-order Fresnel lens intensifies a fixed white light that's visible for 20-miles. The light was automated in 1987. At the time of my visit here in 2001 this was still an active light.

Although the Coast Guard continues to maintain the light, the National Park Service manages the station. Crews of volunteers spend from two to four weeks at a time working at Loggerhead Key Lighthouse. 

Florida - Dry Tortugas, Fort Jefferson Lighthouse

                          View of lighthouse from within Fort Jefferson

The original Dry Tortugas lighthouse, built in 1826 at a height of 65-feet, was located a short distance from this one here at Garden Key, FL. Garden Key is 70-miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, southwest of Key West, FL. The Tortugas was called "dry" because there was no fresh water available.

Fort Jefferson was constructed around the original light and continued for 30-years. Walls of the fort are 45-feet high and 8-feet thick. The fort covers approximately 18 acres which is most of the island. Construction work was never fully completed before the fort's usefulness became a thing of the past.

In the 1830s, lighthouse officials were receiving an endless stream of complaints about the effectiveness of the Garden Key Light. Mariners protested they could only see the light when they were almost ashore. In 1847 an American Coast Pilot called the Garden Key beacon, "without a doubt the worst light in the world." In 1873 a hurricane badly damaged the lighthouse. Although repaired, it was later torn down and an iron structure built nearby on top of the fort walls in 1876. (Pictured above).

This Lighthouse was replaced with a taller 150-foot tower on Loggerhead Key in 1858, and it officially took the name of its predecessor: Dry Tortugas Light. (See that lighthouse in my next post.)

The Garden Key structure received a fourth-order lens and became Tortugas Harbor Light. The Tortugas Harbor Light continued serving as an aid to navigation until 1912 when a fire in the fort's barracks also destroyed the keeper's house. The light was decommissioned in 1921 .

At the time of my visit here in 2001, the lighthouse remained inactive. This lighthouse and Fort Jefferson are part of The Dry Torugas National Park.

Florida - Anclote Key Lighthouse

The Anclote Key Lighthouse is located Near Tarpon Springs, FL.  The brown skeleton iron-framed tower, nearly 100-feet high, was built in 1887. The building materials were prefabricated at a northern iron works and delivered to the site. The lantern room was equipped with a third-order Fresnel Lens and the light was visible for 16-miles. However, strobe lights winking from a lofty industrial smokestack on the mainland eventually rendered the old lighthouse unnecessary. The station was decommissioned in 1984 and the light has remained inactive. Since then, the abandoned tower has suffered significantly at the hands of vandals and ceaseless effects of weathering.

I viewed the Anclote Key Lighthouse in the year 2000 from the Fred Howard Park. In order to get this picture I used a 500mm lens with a 2X coupler on my camera with tripod.

Florida - Key West Lighthouse

This lighthouse is located at Key West, FL. The original tower, built in 1826, was built on Whitehead Point and was the island's first lighthouse. It predates the city which later grew up around it, making it Florida's most "urban" lighthouse. Its purpose was to help ships find their way through the perilously narrow strait between the Gulf Stream and Florida Reef. So critical was it to navigation that it was quickly rebuilt after a massive hurricane brought it down in 1846. A temporary beacon mounted atop a wooden tripod replaced the fallen sentinel until another lighthouse was erected in 1848. The new tower, a 65-foot brick structure, was located on higher ground 1200-feet inland. However, as taller buildings went up in Key West, it became difficult for mariners to distinguish the lighthouse's beacon. So, in 1893 the tower's height was increased by 20-feet. The light was automated in 1915 and the Coast Guard discontinued the light in 1969.

The Federal Government transferred ownership of the station to Monroe County, which leases it to the Key West Art and Historical Society. They restored and were maintaining the lighthouse at the time of my visit here in 2001. The light was active. Eighty-eight spiral stairs lead to the watch room where visitors can step out for the best view of Key West.