Lighthouse Display Case
This page by Jerry Wilkinson
We will proceed from north to
with Key Biscayne, not chronologically. Most of these sites have a
history of various visual beacons associated with its navigational
First a location chart.
Fowey Rocks is off of Miami, Carysfort Reef
off of North Key Largo, Alligator Reef off of Islamorada, Sombrero Key
off of Marathon and American Shoal off of Sugarloaf Key. Sand Key is
6 miles south of Key West and Northwest Passage about the same to the
Rebecca Shoal is about half way between the Marquesas and the Dry
(Fort Jefferson). Loggerhead and Garden Keys are about 3 miles apart
Garden Key being at Fort Jefferson.
The idea of lighthouses in the Keys was
new with US ownership. During the British ownership of Florida (1763
Gerard de Brahm proposed two wooden lighthouses at both ends of the
In passing, Florida's first light
were in the St. Augustine area in the 1500s. A US owned lighthouse was
lit at St. Augustine on April 5, 1824. A second Florida light was lit
Pensacola in December 1824, but these two were harbor lighthouses of
that 50 feet of height.
The Cape Florida Lighthouse
first Florida ocean-coastal lighthouse. Its lantern was lit on December
17, 1825 although Keeper John Dubose forgot to tell the authorities.
it was lit on March 10, 1826. The lighthouse was burned by Indians in
1836, re-lit in October 1846 and decommissioned on June 15, 1878. It
operated again from 1978 to 1991.
The Fowey Rocks Lighthouse replaced
Cape Florida Lighthouse and was lit on June 15, 1878. John W. Frow
from the Cape Florida Lighthouse to become the Fowey Rocks' Keeper. It
was automated in 1967.
The 112-foot Carysfort lighthouse was lit
March 10, 1852 and the
Florida was dismissed. A first-order Fresnel lens was installed in
1857. It was automated in 1960 and is presently solar powered.
Lt. G. Gordon Meade [photo of a painting
completed construction of Caryfort, Sombrero Key, Sand Key, and Rebecca
Shoal lighthouses. Lt. Meade later
became Maj. Gen. Meade who defeated Gen. Robert
E. Lee at the Battle of Gettsburg.
Moving farther southwest and about 3.5
off of Islamorada is the Alligator Reef Lighthouse. It was operational
on November 25, 1873 and was automated in 1963. The reef is named after
the wreck of USS Alligator in November 1822. Its focal plane is
at 136 feet.
Above is the Sombrero Lighthouse with
tender anchored nearby. It was lit on March 17, 1858, off the shores of
Key Vaca (Marathon). It joined Cape Florida, Carysfort, Sand Key and
Tortugas as coastal lighthouses. It was automated in 1960 and is the
of the reef lights with its focal plane at 142 feet.
Shipwrecks were plentiful in the Looe Key
but it was American Shoal which is about 6.5 miles to its southwest (20
miles northeast of Sand Key) that received the lighthouse. It was lit
July 15, 1880, and automated in June 1963.
Continued on Page 3
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