The Lighthouse on Cape Canaveral

The current Cape Canaveral Light is not the first lighthouse on Cape Canaveral. 

A 60-foot (18 m) tall brick structure was built on the Cape in 1848. The light consisted of 15 lamps each with a 21-inch (530 mm) reflector. The first lighthouse keeper left the lighthouse during a Seminole War scare, and refused to return to his post. Sailors heavily criticized the lighthouse, with complaints that the light was too weak and too low to be seen before ships were on the reefs near the Cape. the government contracted for construction of a new lighthouse in 1860, but the start of the American Civil War stopped work. The lamps and mechanism for the light were removed from the lighthouse and buried in the lighthouse keeper's orange grove to protect them from Federal raids.

At the end of the war construction resumed on the lighthouse. It was completed in 1868, receiving a first-order Fresnel lens. Erosion of the shoreline threatened the lighthouse, and the United States Congress appropriated funds to move the lighthouse inland. The old (1848) was blown up and the rubble used to prepare a foundation of the lighthouse. The cast-iron tower was disassembled, moved and reassembled at the new location. The move took 18 months, and the lighthouse was re-lit at its new location in 1894.

The Lighthouse today

When rockets began launching from the Cape in the early 1950s, all residents except the lighthouse keeper were relocated to other areas. In 1954, the need for a keeper to live nearby was eliminated by automating the light. Soon after, the keeper's homes were demolished. After it was discovered that strong vibrations that accompany launches were damaging the first-order Fresnel lens, it was removed in 1993 and placed on display in a museum at the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light. Since toxic lead paint was used to paint the lighthouse, in 1995, a restoration project began to sand blast the harmful paint off.

Ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the United States Air Force in 2000 (the lighthouse is located inside the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). 

It is the only fully operational lighthouse owned by the United States Air Force.

In 2003, the oil house was restored to its original (1890s) state (strong winds had damaged the roof in the 1970s and a window was added in the early 1900s). In 2006, another project restored the lantern room and the structure was repainted using modern materials. Ground sample tests, however, still show a very high level of lead in the soil around the tower. As a result, visitors are not allowed within fifty yards of the base until it is cleaned up.

 

The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation and volunteers are instrumental in restoration projects and in interpreting the lighthouse history. The Foundation has a website at http://www.CanaveralLight.org

 

 

 

 

Hi my friends,

I hope you find this interesting. The picture above of the lighthouse I made some days ago, the text is from Wikipedia. If interested to read more go to their site.

Thanks also for all your wonderful comments and compliments to my last post.

Next Thursday is "Photo-swap-Thursday" again, keep it in mind :))

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

~Susanne

A little bit of self promotion now:

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Pretty Saint Augustin, Florida

The St. Augustine Lighthouse
is on the north end of Anastasia Island, within the current city limits of St. Augustine, Florida. The tower, built in 1874, is owned by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, Inc. (SAL&M), a not-for-profit maritime museum and private aid-to-navigation. Open to the public, admissions support continued preservation of the Lighthouse and fund programs in maritime archaeology and education.

The St. Augustine Light tower was built in 1874

The Ponce de Leon Bridge is under constructions just now

Created in 1924, Fort Matanzas National Monument is a United States National Monument run by the National Park Service. The Monument consists of a 1740 Spanish fort, Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres (0.4 km²) of salt marsh and barrier islands along the Matanzas River on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida. It is operated by the Park Service in conjunction with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and several sites in the city of St. Augustine.

Read more about the Fort here

A busy main street in Saint Augustin's Down Town

Flagler College,
often abbreviated as Flagler, is a private four-year liberal arts college in St. Augustine, Florida, USA and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008.

The college has been named in recent years by US News & World Report as one of the southeast region's best comprehensive liberal arts colleges, and is included on its list of "America's Best Colleges". Its 2006-2007 tuition was $11,810 (excluding room and board) and its acceptance rate is an average of 25 to 30 percent of its annual applications.

The Princeton Review ranks Flagler in the top tier of southeastern colleges, and its campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States. It is currently included in the Princeton Review's Best 366 Colleges Rankings.

Flagler College is home to WFCF/88.5Mc. (Channel 203), which is a community-run station. As of the 2006-2007 school year, the college also broadcasts on local public access television as FCTV. It also publishes a campus newspaper, The Gargoyle, and an annual literary journal, The Flagler Review.

Read more about the College here

Hi my friends,

thank you ALL for your nice comments to my beach post yesterday. I'm so glad you've enjoyed the pictures of the beach, like I did it in reality :)

Stay with me! We will hit the road again tomorrow in the mornings - probably towards the hills again - looking for some cool fresh air to breath...LOL... if it's only for some days, or weeks or even a month... who knows :) ...since we are free and living our dream, we can do what ever we want to do :)

Come with us on the road, see you there!
Susanne