|
The Loxahatchee River Historical Society (LRHS), which operates Florida’s Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum, celebrated its 50th anniversary as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 2022. LRHS became incorporated on January 27, 1972 and opened the first Jupiter Lighthouse Museum on June 2, 1973 in the 1860 oil house, adjacent to the lighthouse tower. The historic building was leased from the Coast Guard.
In the beginning, the one-room museum was only open Sunday afternoons. Lighthouse climbs were dependent on volunteers from the Coast Guard station, but a few years later, the Coast Guard closed the lighthouse to public climbing for a decade. In the early years, LRHS had no idea when or if they might ever acquire the lighthouse, but Jupiter’s first historian, Bessie Wilson DuBois, hoped it would one day become a National Monument.
Other early LRHS projects related to Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse included placing a headstone on the grave of James A. Armour (1825-1906) and the naming of the road leading into the lighthouse in his honor. Armour served as a lighthouse keeper at Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse for an amazing 40 years, from 1866 to 1906.
On August 6, 1989, LRHS hosted its first SeaFare on the grounds of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the adjacent Lighthouse Park, featuring historical reenactors, arts and crafts, and seafood from local restaurants. SeaFare ran annually for the next decade.
In 1994, after years of negotiations, LRHS signed a 30-year lease with the Coast Guard. Under the new agreement, the historical society was responsible for the restoration, maintenance, and operation of the lighthouse. In exchange, the society could open it for public access and tours on a weekly basis.
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, its first order Fresnel lens, and the adjacent oil house were restored in 1999-2000 thanks to an $858,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. Major projects since then have included hurricane repairs, complete tower repainting, and lantern roof restoration work. In recent years, the Florida Lighthouse Association’s “Visit Our Lights” Florida license plate, featuring Jupiter, has been an important source of funding for the projects.
In 2006, LRHS began using the name “Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum.” The society championed the preservation of the entire lighthouse reservation as Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area, a goal achieved when President Bush signed the Congressional act into law on May 8, 2008. The 120-acre property is now part of the National Conservation Lands and owned by the Bureau of Land Management – comparable to the National Monument status that Bessie DuBois once hoped for.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2023 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.
All contents copyright © 1995-2024 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.
|
