St Augustine Lighthouse

The present St. Augustine Lighthouse was built because its predecessor could not stay on shore. The earlier coquina tower stood closer to the inlet, where waves and erosion steadily undermined it. As the old structure faced the sea, the U.S. Lighthouse Service began building a replacement on Anastasia Island in 1871. The new brick tower was finished and lit in 1874; in 1880, the old tower finally fell into the water.

The replacement was more than a landmark. St. Augustine’s shifting inlet, shoals, and dangerous approaches made a dependable light essential to ships entering the harbor. At 165 feet, the tower carried a first-order Fresnel lens made in Paris. On October 15, 1874, keeper William R. Russell lit it for the first time. The lens concentrated the lamp’s light into a beam visible far beyond the shore, while the keeper’s work required regular attention to fuel, equipment, and the tower itself.