Above photos showing the newly restored interior at St. Marks Light Station, Florida, are courtesy of Craig Kittendorf.
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge will celebrate National Lighthouse Day with a Homecoming Celebration at the St. Marks Lighthouse! On Monday, August 7, 2018, the Refuge staff will host the descendants of lighthouse keepers and their families, including members of the U.S. Coast Guard who also kept the light. The Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge recently finished funding Phase II of the restoration, which included stabilizing and restoring the tower and the keeper’s dwelling.They received over $500,000 in grants from the Florida Division of Historical Resources, and the results of the restoration are breath-taking! The Florida Lighthouse Association will tour the tower during their June meeting. The Refuge plans to begin public access to the keeper’s dwelling in September.
Submitted June 3, 2018, by Craig Kittendorf, ranger with the St. Marks NWR who worked closely with the restoration architect and contractors.
* * * * * *
U.S. Lighthouse Society News is produced by the U.S. Lighthouse Society to support lighthouse preservation, history, education and research. You can receive these posts via email if you click on the “SUBSCRIBE” button in the right-hand column. Please support this electronic newsletter by joining the U.S. Lighthouse Society if you are not already a member.
If you have items of interest to the lighthouse community and its supporters, please email them to candace@uslhs.org.
Candace was the US Lighthouse Society historian from 2016 until she passed away in August 2018. For 30 years, her work involved lighthouse history. She worked with the National Park Service and the Council of American Maritime Museums. She was a noted author and was considered the most knowledgable person on lighthouse information at the National Archives. Books by Candace Clifford include: Women who Kept the Lights: a History of Thirty-eight Female Lighthouse Keepers , Mind the Light Katie, and Maine Lighthouses, Documentation of their Past.
Just Wow!
Thank you so much, this will be my Greatgrandsons dreamto get to go inside.We are over there several times a month taking pictures. We live at Spring Creek. We just can’t hardly wait. Thanks.
Is the lighthouse open to the public this weekend? We will be there and we would love to finally be able to see the inside as we have always only seen it from outside. We have visited there since 1999 and we love the whole area.