Cape Florida Light facts for kids
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| The Cape Florida Light | |
 Cape Florida Light
Location in Florida
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| Location | Cape Florida Key Biscayne Florida United States |
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| Coordinates | 25°39′59.72″N 80°09′21.47″W / 25.6665889°N 80.1559639°W |
| Year first constructed | 1825 (first) |
| Year first lit | 1847 (current) |
| Automated | 1978 |
| Deactivated | (1878–1978) and (1990–1996) |
| Foundation | brick on coral reef |
| Construction | brick tower |
| Tower shape | tapered cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings / pattern | white tower, black lantern |
| Height | 95 feet (29 m) |
| Focal height | 100 feet (30 m) |
| Original lens | 1846: 17 Argand lamps with 21-in reflectors 1855: Second-order Fresnel lens |
| Current lens | 300 mm lens (1996) |
| Characteristic | Fl W 6s. |
| Admiralty number | J2956.4 |
| ARLHS number | USA-118 |
| USCG number | 3-0923 |
The Cape Florida Light is a famous lighthouse located on Key Biscayne in Florida. It stands at the southern tip of the island, inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Built in 1825, this lighthouse helped guide ships safely past the dangerous Florida Reef. This reef is a long stretch of coral that starts near Key Biscayne.
The lighthouse was used by keepers until 1878. At that time, a new lighthouse, the Fowey Rocks Light, took over its job. However, the Cape Florida Light was brought back into use in 1978 by the United States Coast Guard. It helped mark the Florida Channel, which is a deep natural path for boats into Biscayne Bay. It was turned off again in 1990.
Since 1966, the lighthouse has been part of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. It was lit up once more in 1996. Today, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection owns and takes care of it.
Contents
History of the Cape Florida Lighthouse
Building the First Lighthouse
The first Cape Florida lighthouse was planned to be about 65-foot-tall (20 m). Its walls were supposed to be made of solid brick. They would be five feet thick at the bottom and get thinner towards the top. However, the builder didn't follow the plans. He used less material and built hollow walls instead.
Captain John Dubose was the first lighthouse keeper. He worked there for over ten years. In 1835, a big hurricane hit the island. It damaged the lighthouse and the keeper's house. The storm also flooded the island with three feet of water.
Attack on the Lighthouse
In 1835, the Second Seminole War began. The Seminole people attacked settlers in southern Florida. In January 1836, the Seminoles attacked the family of William Cooley. This happened at their farm on the New River, near what is now Fort Lauderdale.
When settlers near the Miami River heard about this, they went to the lighthouse. They crossed Biscayne Bay to get there. But the island was not safe either. So, the settlers and Captain Dubose's family moved to Key West for safety.
Later in January, Lt. George M. Bache of the U.S. Navy arrived. He came from Key West with a small group of workers. They made the lighthouse tower stronger. They boarded up the ground floor windows and made the door more secure.
On July 18, 1836, Captain Dubose went to visit his family. The assistant keeper, John W. B. Thompson, was in charge. He was helped by Aaron Carter, an African American man.
Five days later, on July 23, 1836, a group of Seminoles attacked the lighthouse. Thompson and Carter quickly got inside the tower. Thompson later said he felt bullets go through his clothes and hat. The Seminoles grabbed the door right after he locked it.
Thompson and Carter fired back from the upper windows. They fought the Seminoles for the rest of the day. After dark, the attackers set fire to the door and a boarded-up window. Inside the tower, tanks held 225 gallons of lamp oil. The bullets had hit these tanks, and the oil caught fire.
Thompson's clothes were soaked with oil, and they caught fire. He and Carter went to the very top of the tower. They took a barrel of gunpowder, bullets, and a rifle with them. They even cut away part of the wooden stairs below them. But the intense heat and flames forced them out of the top.
The fire inside was so bad that Thompson and Carter had to lie down. They were on the 2-foot-wide (0.61 m) platform outside the lantern area. Thompson's clothes were burning. Both men had been wounded by the Seminoles' shots. The lighthouse lens and glass panes broke from the heat.
Thompson thought he was going to die. He wanted a quick end, so he threw the gunpowder barrel down the tower. It exploded, but the tower did not fall. The explosion briefly put out the fire, but the flames soon returned. Then, the fire slowly died down. Thompson found that Carter had died from his wounds and the fire.
The next day, Thompson saw the Seminoles taking things and burning other buildings. They seemed to think Thompson was dead, as they stopped shooting at him. After the Seminoles left, Thompson was stuck at the top. He had three bullet wounds in each foot. The stairs inside the tower were burned away.
Later that day, he saw a ship coming. It was the U.S. Navy schooner Motto. They had heard the gunpowder explosion from twelve miles away. They came to see what happened. The men from the ship were surprised to find Thompson alive. They couldn't get him down that day, so they returned to their ship.
The next day, men from the Motto and another ship, the Pee Dee, returned. They fired a ramrod with a small line attached up to Thompson. He used it to pull up a stronger rope. Two men climbed up the rope to help the wounded Thompson down. Thompson was taken to Key West, then to Charleston, South Carolina, to get better. The Cape Florida Light was not used again until 1846.
The Second Lighthouse
In 1846, a plan was made to rebuild the lighthouse and the keeper's home. The builder was allowed to use old bricks from the first tower. New bricks were also sent from Massachusetts. The lighthouse was finished and lit again in April 1847. It had 17 Argand lamps, each with 21-inch (530 mm) reflectors.
Reason Duke became the new keeper. He had lived near the Miami River before moving to Key West because of the war. Temple Pent became the keeper in 1852. He was followed by Robert R. Fletcher in 1854, and Charles S. Barron in 1855.
1855 Renovation
In 1855, the lighthouse tower was made taller. It reached 95 feet (29 m) high. This was done so its light could shine further, past the offshore reefs. The old lamp system was replaced with a powerful second-order Fresnel lens. This new lens was brought by Lt. Col. George Meade of the U.S. Army. The taller tower with its new, stronger light was lit again in March 1856.
Simeon Frow became the keeper in 1859. During the American Civil War, in 1861, people who supported the Confederates destroyed the lighthouse lamp and lens. The light was fixed in 1866, and Temple Pent became keeper again. John Frow, Simeon Frow's son, replaced him in 1868.
Lighthouse Turned Off
John Frow continued as keeper until 1878. At that time, the Cape Florida Light was turned off. Even with its new height and powerful light, it wasn't enough to warn ships away from the reefs. The U.S. Coast Guard decided to build a new lighthouse. This new screw-pile lighthouse was built on Fowey Rocks, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Cape Florida.
When the Fowey Rocks lighthouse was finished in 1878, the Cape Florida lighthouse was no longer needed. Keeper John Frow and his father Simeon became the first keepers at the new Fowey Rocks lighthouse.
Inactive Period
From 1888 to 1893, the Cape Florida lighthouse was rented out. The Biscayne Bay Yacht Club used it as their main building. It was known as the southernmost yacht club in the U.S. and the tallest in the world! After the rental ended, the yacht club moved to Coconut Grove.
In 1898, there was tension with Spain over Cuba. This led to the Spanish–American War. The Cape Florida lighthouse was briefly used as U.S. Signal Station Number Four. It was one of 36 such stations along the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast. These stations were set up to give early warnings if the Spanish fleet approached.
The land around the lighthouse belonged to Waters Davis in the late 1800s. His parents had bought the land on Key Biscayne after the U.S. got Florida from Spain in 1821. They sold the 3 acres (12,000 m2) for the lighthouse to the U.S. government in 1825. In 1903, Davis bought the unused lighthouse from the U.S. government for $400.
In 1913, Davis sold his Key Biscayne property, including the lighthouse, to James Deering. Deering was an heir to the International Harvester company. He owned Villa Vizcaya in Miami. Deering said the Cape Florida lighthouse must be restored.
When Deering asked the U.S. government for plans to restore the lighthouse, they were surprised. They wondered how a lighthouse could be owned by a private person. It was found that old laws had kept the island for the lighthouse and military use. Lawyers eventually convinced the U.S. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson to accept Deering's ownership of the Cape Florida area.
The beach in front of the lighthouse was shrinking due to erosion. Records showed that a quarter-mile of beach had washed away in 90 years. Deering had engineers check the tower for needed repairs. They found that the tower's foundations were only four feet deep.
Deering ordered sandbags to be placed at the tower's base. He also had jetties built to try and stop the erosion. The engineers first thought about driving poles under the lighthouse. But they found there was no hard rock deep down. So, they built a strong concrete foundation with steel for the tower. After this new foundation was put in, the tower survived the direct hit from the 1926 Miami hurricane.
Restoration and Reopening
In 1966, the State of Florida bought the southern part of Key Biscayne, including the lighthouse. They created the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. It was named after Bill Baggs, an editor who helped save the land. The state restored the lighthouse tower. In 1969, they built copies of the keeper's homes.
In 1978, the Coast Guard brought the lighthouse back into use. This was 100 years after it was first turned off. An automatic light was put in the tower. It helped boaters find the Florida Channel at night. An inspection in 1988 showed that the foundation built by Deering was still in great shape. After 12 years, the light was turned off by the Coast Guard in 1990. The tower survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
A project with the Dade County Historical Society restored the lighthouse in 1995–1996. A museum was set up in one of the replica keeper's homes. It helps visitors learn about Florida's maritime history. As part of the work, the light was replaced with new parts before it was turned on again. The lighthouse was relit in July 1996 for Miami's 100th birthday celebration. It is now owned and managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2004, a special sign was put up in the park. It remembers the hundreds of people, including Black Seminoles, who escaped to the Bahamas from Cape Florida in the 1800s. This site is part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Trail.
Images for kids
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The Cape Florida Light
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Cape Florida Light in 1923
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Network to Freedom Trail sign commemorating hundreds of Black Seminoles who escaped from Cape Florida in the early 1820s to the Bahamas.
See also
In Spanish: Faro Cape Florida para niños
