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The keeper, Captain Thomas Knight, took up duties there in 1911. He came from a line of lighthouse keepers. His grandfather, Capt. Mills Burnham, was born in Vermont, and went to work at Cape Canaveral lighthouse in 1852. He worked there the remainder of his life. Various family members spread out into adjacent areas, and others moved south to the area around Hillsboro Inlet. Capt. Tom Knight grew up in the lighthouse environment and naturally gravitated to the familiar line of work.
Capt. Burnham had five daughters. The oldest one married Henry Wilson, who became the Captain's assistant keeper. Capt. Burnham was succeeded by son-in-law George Quarterman, who in turn was succeeded by James M. Knight, another of the Captain's sons-in-law. Capt. James Knight was father of Thomas Knight, who in 1911 began lighthouse keeping duties at Hillsboro Point Lighthouse. His relatives and descendent pioneers are still in the area. Capt. Thomas Knight was second assistant keeper from April 16, 1902 to November 1, 1904 promoted to first assistant keeper from November 1, 1904 to August 24, 1911, at Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. From there he was transferred to the Hillsboro Lighthouse.
Hillsboro Lighthouse was the scene for a number of interesting events. When the lighthouse was placed there, the Inlet was not only a dark area for shipping, but a primitivelanding area for bootleggers and a rugged, desolate Inlet that few souls sought out. Today it is a neighbor to an exclusive, high-priced waterfront property known as Hillsboro Lighthouse Point and a neighbor of Cap's Place.
Cap's Place is a famous restaurant built by Captain Thede Knight, brother to the Lighthouse Captain, which has a colorful past of its own.
Thede Knight ran away from home when he was 13, worked his way up from a mess boy on a lighthouse tender, to become Master of Morgan Line Steamers, sailing between New Orleans and New York. After 35 years he retired from the sea in 1919. His first restaurant was on a little houseboat he had pulled up on the shore opposite the lighthouse, where his brother was keeper. His wife, Lola, finished high school. She was awarded a contract to teach the children of Lighthouse employees and also children of local fishermen, in the Coast Guard Station located next to the lighthouse grounds.
The restaurant facilities were expanded a number of times. It remains in operation to this day, a maverick construction, looking much like it did many years ago. Its interior decor consists mainly of castaway items picked up on the beach. Capt. Thede Knight and Bink Glisson, his young, red-headed, freckle-faced nephew, took many a walk along the shoreline at Hillsboro Inlet, with the Captain's little terrier, Midge, checking the sand for items that had been washed ashore from shipwrecks. Often they were successful. One time they found a beautiful, complete bowsprit from a wrecked Spanish Galleon that had washed ashore and stored it under the lighthouse keeper's quarters for years, before he retrieved it so he could display it over the bar. The bar itself was made from driftwood. Capt. found mahogany logs on the beach and had them sawed to include in the construction of the bar. Bink found an intact Dutch sabot that Thede mounted on the wall, which is still in its space today. Cork, fishing nets, even tables and chairs were recovered from the beaches, especially after a storm had passed through. Cap's Place is third in the State approved by the Florida Register Review Board for historical designation. The two-the lighthouse and Cap's place-remain neighbors, facing each other across the inlet.
On the reservation area at the lighthouse is a plaque that commemorates Florida's famous barefoot mailman, James E Hamilton. He trudged the miles along the beach, carrying the heavy postal sack and shoes tied together by the laces, slung over his shoulder, as he trekked his way through the sand, between Miami and Jupiter. Sometimes he also acted as guide for men brave enough to go with him. Alligators, Indians, outlaws and the weather itself presented obstacles and dangers. He stored a small boat at the inlet, which he could use for crossing, and again, on his return. The story goes that one day the boat was missing when he arrived with the mail. Conscientious man that he was, he did not want to hold up the mail, so he attempted to swim across the inlet. No one knows whether a predator or treacherous tide caused his death when he tried to swim across the inlet on October 11, 1887.
For a time a number of mysterious fires broke out in the area around the lighthouse. They could not catch a culprit and there was no evidence of any kind to help them solve the problem. After a great deal of investigation, they found the magnifying lighthouse lens was the culprit. Satisfied that they had solved the mystery, they put an end to the fires when they mounted a shield on the land side of the light.
Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse was the last landfall lighthouse to be built in Florida. Every 20 seconds the bright light in its beacon reminds us that here is a sentinel of civilization, a guiding hand to those at sea and a light in the dark for those who have lost their way. The mystique and history of these lighthouses remain to tie us with the past and light up our imaginations.
This story appeared in the
November 1996 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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