Cape San Blas Lighthouse at Port St. Joe

About this property

The Cape San Blas Light is a lighthouse in the state of Florida in the United States. Four different structures were built between 1849 and 1885 to house the light. It was located at Cape San Blas in the northwestern part of the state. Due to beach erosion and weather damage over the decades, the final structure was moved multiple times, including to Port St. Joe in 2014. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The first Cape San Blas Light was completed in 1849 with an appropriation of $8,000 made 2 years earlier. The shoals running out from the cape extended 3.5 or 4.3 nautical miles; 6.4 or 8.0 kilometres (4 or 5 mi) and made it dangerous for all vessels nearing the coast. If the light had been high enough it could have been seen for 17 nautical miles; 32 kilometres (20 mi) and afforded protection to vessels going to and from Tortugas to New Orleans, but the light from the 85-or-90-foot (26 or 27 m) tower was visible only half that distance. The site was "deemed to be entirely secure from overflow or inundation" by the collector of customs at Apalachicola, Florida, who selected it, with the assistance of "two of our most experienced pilots." The lighthouse erected in 1849 then "fell down during a gale in the autumn of 1851" and on August 31, 1852, Congress appropriated $12,000 for rebuilding it. The new structure was completed in 1856. It had been completed only a few months when during the severe storm of August 30, 1856, it was destroyed. "The sea rose so high," the United States Lighthouse Board reported, "that the waves struck the floor of the keeper’s dwelling, elevated 8 feet [2.4 m] above the ground, and about 14 feet [4.3 m] above the ordinary tides. A lagoon now occupies the site of the lighthouse." On March 3, 1857, Congress, for the third time, appropriated money for a lighthouse at Cape San Blas. This appropriation was for $20,000 and the new lighthouse was first lighted with a third-order lens on May 1, 1858. The light station sustained serious damage at the hands of Union troops aboard the USS Kingfisher that landed in 1862 during the Civil War. The keeper's dwelling was completely destroyed and the door frames and sashes of the tower were torn or burnt out. Repairs were made, a new illuminating apparatus was provided, and the light was re-exhibited on July 23, 1865. In 1869 the beach in front of the lighthouse was reported to be washing away and would need protection against encroachments of the sea during heavy storms. In 1877 Congress appropriated $2,000 for protecting the site after the Lighthouse Board had reported 2 years earlier "The base of the tower is very nearly at the same level as the sea, which is but little more than 150 feet distant, the shore being of shifting sand. In a violent hurricane, it is feared, the tower may be undermined." The Board had asked for $5,000 to protect the site and reported in 1879 that, as it was found "impracticable to build a jetty for $2,000 that can protect the site from the encroachment of the sea, no further action has been taken in the matter."

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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