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This past December while vacationing in Florida, my husband and I visited two lighthouses--Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and St. Augustine Lighthouse. On a sunny Friday morning, we headed towards Daytona Beach and Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, which was originally known as the Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse. We arrived shortly after the lighthouse opened, and after paying admission and getting our wristbands, we were excited to begin exploring the grounds of the lighthouse.
We first watched an introductory video about the history of the lighthouse which was located in the former woodshed. Next, we visited the other buildings including the Principal Keeper’s, First Assistant and Second Assistant Keepers’ dwelling, as well as the oil storage building and pump house. Each building had wonderful exhibits where we could read and see artifacts that enabled us to learn the history of the region and how former keepers and their families lived and worked at the lighthouse. Being a librarian, I loved seeing the United States Lighthouse Establishment’s traveling library box that made the rounds to various lighthouses, bringing books to the keepers and their families. Another favorite was the Lens Exhibit Building. Here we saw various orders of Fresnel lenses, including the original first order Fresnel lens that was in the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and the first order Fresnel lens from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. Standing next to the first order Fresnel lenses, I felt dwarfed in size.
After learning about the history of the region, the keepers, their way of life, and the lenses, we were ready to climb the lighthouse. At 175 feet, the bright red brick lighthouse is the tallest in Florida. We were glad for the landings on which we could take a break as we climbed the 203 stairs to the top. We could see the third order Fresnel lens from the watch room and gallery deck, but the lantern room itself is off limits. I learned an interesting fact - that the lens does not have to be protected with curtains because the lens rotates, which keeps it from being damaged by the powerful rays of the sun. We had wonderful views of the surrounding landscape, and, thanks to my husband pointing it out, I was able to get a unique shot of the shadow the lighthouse cast over the lighthouse grounds. Although there were not many people at the lighthouse that morning, we met two women who as part of their exercise regime climb the lighthouse five times once a week.
After exploring the gift shop where I bought a lovely frame with paintings of both Ponce de Leon Inlet and St. Augustine Lighthouse, which was perfect since we were going to also see St. Augustine Lighthouse, we walked to Hidden Treasure restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed eating our lunch, sitting by the water and watching squirrels run up and down a large tree that was growing in the middle of the patio. After lunch, we continued on our way to the brick black and white spiraled St. Augustine lighthouse.
After purchasing our admission in the gift shop, we decided first to climb the tower since we had less than two hours before they closed. Even though at 219 steps, St. Augustine Lighthouse has more stairs than Ponce de Leon Inlet, it is ten feet shorter - 165 feet above sea level. Again, we were glad to take a break at the landings, and we marveled at how strong a lighthouse keeper had to be to lug the oil bucket up all those stairs. There were two oil buckets on different landings that were weighted down and visitors could pick it up by the handle to see how heavy it was and imagine how the lighthouse keeper had to carry it to the top. The lantern room, with its first order Fresnel lens, was off limits, but once again we had wonderful views from the gallery deck. I was also able to capture the St. Augustine Lighthouse’s shadow as it fell over the keepers’ house. We met a local resident who also uses the lighthouse to exercise, and he told us that he climbs the stairs three times every day! He also gave us a tip for a good photo opportunity. He told us there was a mirror on the ground outside of the lighthouse and that we could capture the lighthouse’s reflection in it. So after taking more photos of the spiraling stairs as we descended, we captured the lighthouse’s reflection with both my husband and I in the photo; we also tried to capture the lighthouse without us in the photo. I only wish I had had some glass cleaner to clean the mirror because it was spotted, probably due to rain and condensation. We then explored the keepers’ house, which had several rooms decorated in period furnishings and other exhibits on the history of the lighthouse. Part of the keepers’ house was under renovation for exhibits and would not be finished until the summer.
My husband and I had a wonderful day learning about and exploring two beautiful lighthouses in the Florida sunshine. If you have visited these lighthouses in the past, you know what I’m talking about. But if you haven’t, there’s no better time than now to plan your trip.
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2014 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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