Several lightships were set here, but they weren’t very effective. Their presence more or less made them a target for attacks from Seminole Indians and more than 60 vessels were lost on the reef during the time of the lightships.

When a new method of securing reef lighthouses to the coral rock beneath was created, and in 1852 the Carysfort Reef Lighthouse was completed. The lighthouse offered poor living conditions for its keepers. Food would spoil after a few days because there was no means of refrigeration. But even in these conditions, keepers were loyal.

One keeper in particular, Captain Charles Johnson apparently decided he was never going to leave. No the most likable guy, Captain Johnson died just after the lighthouse was lit. After his death, keepers began reporting deep, gutteral groaning that would carry through the rafters of the lighthouse. These groans would begin softly and intensify into high-pitched, human-sounding screams as the night went on. Most keepers had a hard time getting a good night’s sleep.

These days, many dismiss the noises as the iron joints of the lighthouse settling. Others are convinced it’s Captain Johnson’s spirit hanging around to annoy people long after his death.

The Carysfort Reef Lighthouse is located offshore about 6 miles from Key Largo. It can’t be seen from land. It’s very hard to reach by boat because of the reef , but you can get a charter to take you out there.The tower is currently closed to visitors.

Find out more about the history of Carysfort Reef Lighthouse here.

Point Vicente Lighthouse

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The father was a widow and was raising his daughter on his own. His little girl was his world and she would accompany him on his lighthouse duties and practically everywhere else he went.

One day, after a trip to town to buy supplies, the two were headed back to the lighthouse in their little wooden boat. Suddenly it began to rain fiercely and the wind began gusting. The little boat began to rock wildly and started taking on water. The lightkeeper realized the boat and all his supplies would be lost, so he took a rope that was in the boat and tied his daughter to his back. Fighting hard to stay afloat, he had no idea which way he was swimming, but he knew he had to keep going to save his little girl. Finally, they made it to the shore.

Feeling secure in the fact that his daughter was still strapped to his back, the exhausted keeper fell asleep. When he woke, he tried waking his daughter, but to no avail, as the little girl had drowned during the struggle to reach the shore. Despondent, the keeper was never the same and soon began neglecting his duties and wandering the town calling out for his daughter and falling to his knees in grief when she didnt answer.

Mariners in the area believe Annie is a bit of a guardian angel. Many claim that she comes aboard their vessels, warning them of impending hurricane and nor’easters. When she appears, the wise sailors pull in their traps and nets and head home.

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In 1825 a 40 foot tower was built on a 40 foot bluff at the south entrance to Pensacola Bay. This light was also partially obscured by trees close to the tower and on Santa Rosa Island. There are no known drawings or photographs of this original lighthuse.

In 1858 a new tower was built on the north side of the bay entrance, and was lit on January 1, 1859. The new, and current, tower is 150 feet tall, and also sits on a 40 foot bluff located on the Pensacola Naval Air Station, placing the light 190 feet above sea level.

The lighthouse is said to be haunted by its first lighthkeeper, Jeremiah Ingraham. A transplanted bachelor from New England, he took on the lightkeeper duties in December of 1824. He grew fond of the tropical Florida climate and his crops of strawberries, grapes, rice, among others, were plentiful. He lived this abundant bachelor life for two more years, then decided it was time to take a wife.

Jeremiahmarried in 1826, and the couple soon had three children. They hired a young Negro boy to as an assistant lightkeeper, and soon took on caring for an ailing relative. Although they expanded their crops and had more people to help with hunting and fishing, there never seemed to be enough food. This issue seemed to be the root cause of heated arguments and underlying tension for years. Jeremiah’s wife pressured him constantly, saying he wasn’t doing enough, although he seemed to work ceaselessly.

This continued for the nearly thirty years the couple ran the lighthouse. The intensity grew and grew and eventually ended in Jeremiah’s brutal murder. With the children grown and on their own, the couple was alone in the house.

One night, for reasons still unknown, Jeremiah’s wife got up in the middle of the night, went downstairs, and grabbed the sharpest knife in the kitchen. She proceeded back upstairs and stabbed her husband in the back. As she watched him die, she formulated her plan for covering up her actions. She disposed of the incriminating evidence and reported her husband’s death as a hunting accident. Her ploy worked, and she soon took over tending the lighthouse.

Her tenure as lightkeeper was not an easy one. The lighthousewas plagued by ongoing mechanical problems and setbacks, and the guilty wife seemed to be plagued by thevengeful spirit ofher murdered husband.

Legend says she saw objects fly through the air, heard creepy laughter in empty rooms,saw shadows in the windows of the locked tower at night, constantly smelled the odor of pipe tobacco, and felt ice cold blasts of air no matter how hot the fireplace was burning.

Even though the old station has been replaced, reports say the bloodstain of Jeremiah’s murder shows through the floorboards of the upstairs bedroom of the current keeper’s house. No amount of scrubbing is able to permantly remove that stain. The son of a former keeper stated that when he pull the chains to keep the lens turning, he would hear breathing. Visitors have reported having their name whispered into their ear by some unseen force. Doors open and close by themselves, and residents would hear footsteps walking to the front door, the door would open and close, then the footsteps would continue on to the gate, where the gate would open and close, then the footsteps would stop.

Coast Guard staffers have been frustrated by doors that won’t stay locked. They lock the doors, double-check to ensure they’re locked, and then come back the next day to find them all unlocked. Many of them have also smelled the pipe smoke; one even reported actually seeing the smoke. Nearly everyone reports feeling another presence among them when they’re in the tower. Stillothers are startled by the sudden slamming of the hatch to the lantern room, when they know no one is there.

Maybe the creepiest report is that of a volunteer and his wife from the late 1980’s. The couple was asked to check the lighthouse to see why the light was out. When they got there, they heard a man pacing and cursing. As the husband went up to fix the light, the wife continued to hear the pacing and cursing. At the exact moment the light came back on, the cursing and pacing abruptly stopped. Maybe Jeremiah was frustrated because he couldn’t figure out how to fix the light…

The light was automated in 1965. In 1971, the Gulf Islands National Seashore was created to help preserve the tower, as well as the neighboring fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas. The lighthouse tower and associated buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Pensacola lighthouse is open for tours from June – October. The facilityremains an active aid to navigation.

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The relatively short, brick lighthouse – only 30 feet tall – is situated on a hill about 100 feet above the water.
A tall lighthouse was unnecessary because of the height of the promontory. The present brick tower was constructed in 1852 and fitted with a fourth-order fresnel lens. The tower remains relatively unchanged from the time when it was first built. Besides it’s unusually short height, the lighthouse also has a long series of wooden steps leading up to the light from the keeper’s house, which is a feature unique to this house.

The original lamps and reflectors were replaced by a fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1856, and the lens remains in use today. The ligthhouse was fully automated in 1989 and contnues to shine it’s that can be seen up to 16 nautical miles away to this day. Because the lighthouse is located in a region that is particularly prone to fog, the light is equipped with a powerful fog signal.

The origin of the name “Owl’s head” is somewhat of a mystery. Some have suggested that the promontory where the lighthouse sits looks like an owl from the water. Others say Owl’s Head is the English translation of the Indian name for the location, Medadacut.

Owl’s Head Light is known for many tales that have been passed down through the years. One of the most memorable tales is that of the frozen lovers. The area was hit by a massive storm on December 22, 1850 which caused five vessels to go aground. One of those, a small schooner, whose captain had gone ashore, was send out to sea after the cables tying it to the dock broke loose. The first mate, his fiance and and a seaman were left onboard to huddle together on the deck and nearly froze in the surf. The seaman was able to escape at one point and made it to shore, exhausted and nearly frozen. Fortunately, he reached the road the road to the lighthouse where he was rescued by the keeper. Barely able to speak, he alerted the keeper about the others still on the schooner and a rescue party was rounded up.

The rescue party found what was left of the schooner and found the young couple frozen in a block of ice. The couple appeared to be dead, but the men brought the block to the kitchen of the keeper’s house. They chipped the ice away, and slowly, if not miraculously, the couple began to show signs of life. The young couple soon recovered, evenutally married and had four children. Unfortunately, the seaman who perpetuated their rescue never recovered.

A second tale is that of a keeper’s dog who lived in the lighthouse in the 1930’s. The dog, named Spot, was trained to pull on the fog bell’s rope when he heard a boat approaching. In one incident, the rope was buried in the snow and Spot was unable to ring the bell. Instead, he barked continuously until he heard the approaching boat’s whistle beyond the rocks. Spot’s loud barking has been credited with warning the captain just in time to steer the boat and avoid the rocks. Spot was known as somewhat of a local hero and celebrity and is said to be buried on the side of the hill near the former location of the fog bell.

Oddly enough, the hauntings of Owl’s head Light don’t appear to be linked to either of these tales. The keeper’s house is said to be haunted by an “old sea captain” – who is most likely a former keeper, although no one is sure. According to local legend, one night the three-year-old daughter of a keeper woke her parents and announced, “Fog’s rolling in! Time to put the foghorn on!”. The parents had never brought up that subject with their daughter and had no clue where she would have picked up the lingo. They soon discovered that she apparently had an imaginary friend who resembled an old sea captain. He has been seen by other former keepers and likes to leave his footprints in the snow outside the lighthouse and polish the brass. He also may be responsible for lowering the thermostat and keeping the place chilly, perhaps in an effort to conserve energy.

The second spectre in the lighthouse is known as the “Little Lady”. The lady spirit is frequently seen in the kitchen. She seems to like to slam doors shut unexpectedly and rattle the silverware. Everyone who has encountered her has stated that her presence brought about a feeling of peace. Most agree that she is probably a wife of one of the many former keepers of the light who loved the place so much she decided never to leave.

Owls Head Light is located on an active Coast Guard facility. The keeper’s house is still used as a residence for Coast Guard personnel and the surrounding grounds are now known as Owl’s Head State Park. The orignial bell tower is now gone, but an 1895 oil house is still standing.

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In 1825, the Federal Government determined that a light needed to be built at Point Lookout to warn ships of the shoals and to mark the entrance to the Potomac River.

The lighthouse was constructed in 1830 as a one-and-a-half story wood and masonry building. This first lighthouse was of little use in navigation since the lantern stood only 24 feet off the ground. It was rebuilt in 1883 as the current two-story structure and the light was raised to 40 feet.

A fog bell tower was added in 1872 and then upgraded in 1889. In 1883, the second story was added to the house to enable the dwelling to house two keepers and their families. In 1927, the house was enlarged to its present size and turned into two separate apartments, each with six rooms and a bath. Electricity was also added around the same timeframe.

Civilian keepers continued to tend the light full-time until 1979, even though it had been transferred to the Coast Guard back in 1939. In 1951, the Navy started buying and building up the property around the lighthouse. In 1965 the light was deactivated and the structures completely turned over to the navy.

The Civil War completely transformed the point from a pleasant vacation spot to a place scarred with permanent reminders of what had occured on the landscape. Hammond General Hospital was constructed in 1862 to care for wounded Union soldiers. The next year, the Union began holding Confederate prisoners at the hospital. As a result, Camp Hoffman, the civil war’s largest prison camp, was constructed near the hospital. The prison camp held as many as 20,000 prisoners at one point. The prison grounds were filthy, very overcrowded and quickly became a breeding ground for disease.

When all was said and done, nearly 4,000 men had died at the camp from disease, starvation or exposure. Their bodies were buried in various locations on or near the lighthouse grounds. In later years when these gravesites were threatened by erosion, they were relocated to a spot just north of Point Lookout.

The trauma and death associated with the prison camp may help explain the many strange, paranormal events that have been reported by lighthouse keepers and visitors over the years, thus earning it the title of “America’s most haunted lighthouse”.

In the years following the end of the war, the onslaught of reports of paranormal occurances in the area began. There were reports of strange noises such as footsteps, snoring, foul odors, lights going on and off, and disembodied voices carrying on conversations, laughing, singing happy tunes or even calling for help. One woman was reportedly awakened in the middle of the night to someone calling her name, but no one was there. Some of these strange sounds have actually been recorded by paranormal investigators over the years.

In addition to the sounds, there have also been numerous reports of apparitions. The most popular of the appartions reported is that of the first lighthouse keeper, Ann Davis, who has been seen standing at the top of the stairs wearing a long, navy blue skirt and white shirt, her normal daily attire.

There have also been reports of transparent figures, possibly in civil war uninforms, moving around in the basement and roaming the grounds outside the lighthouse seemingly searching for their graves that were moved more than a century ago.

Paranormal investigations have been going on for years at Point Lookout. As previously mentioned, some of the investigators have recorded audio proof of other-worldly goings-on. Audio evidence presents twenty-four distinct voices eminating from various locations in the lighthouse. The voices were of both men and women speaking and singing. One voice, believed to be that of a union guard at the prison camp, was recorded saying: “fire if they get too close to you”. Another appears to be that of the former keeper Ann Davis saying: “My house”.

In 2002, the Navy set in motion a complete restoration of the lighthouse exterior. The structure was painted in accordance with it’s color scheme from 1927. The lighthouse was turned over to the State of Maryland in 2006. A few months later, the Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society was founded to raise funds to restore the lighthouse and making it accessible to the public by turning it into a museum.

The lighthouse remains on Navy property and is currently fenced off and not openly accessible to the public. Around Halloween, the location is occasionally open in the daytime for open houses and sometimes in the evening for limited night-time paranormal investigations.

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Merchants submitted the petition for the lighthouse in 1786, but the government didn’t order the lighthouse built until 1795. Once President George Washington gave the order, the lighthouse construction began and the project was completed in 1797 at a cost of $6,300.

Sequin Island Lighthouse holds the title as the highest elevated lighthouse in Maine, standing just over 180 feet above sea level. The fixed, non-flashing light is visible to ships as far out as 40 miles. Due to the high occurance of fog in this area, the light house is equipped with one of the most powerful fog horns ever made. The original structure was replaced in 1820, and again in 1857 when the present structure was erected. The light was continued to be manually monitored until it was fully automated in 1985.

The history of Seguin Island Light Station is filled with strange and tragic stories. One is that of the first lightkeeper who died penniless and boatless on the island. Some say his ghost has haunted the keepers who came after him. There have been sightings of a ghost who has been named the “Old Captain”. He is usally seen climbing the staircase of the tower as if heading upstairs to tend to the light.

One night the old furnishings were being removed from the premesis. Apparently the man in charge of the crew moving the furniture was awakened in the middle of the night by the “Old Captain” who asked him not to take the furniture and to leave his home alone. The man didn’t grant the request and the next day after the furniture had been loaded onto a boat and was being lowered into the water, the cable mysteriously snapped. The boat and everything in it fell onto the rocks below and were smashed into pieces. It appears the “Old Captain” got his way afterall.

Another frequent sighting is that of a young girl running up and down the stairs and waving to those who see her. She has also been heard laughing and bouncing a ball in a room upstairs. History shows that a young girl died on the island and was buried near the lighthouse.

Perhaps the most tragic incident that occured on the island is that of a former caretaker in the mid 1800’s who was driven insane and murdered his wife, then took his own life. Legend states the caretaker brought his wife to live with him at the lighthouse shortly after they were married. As time went by, she became depressed and sullen and he bought her a piano to help cheer her up.

Unfortunately, she didn’t memorize music and had to play from sheet music. Since she had only had one piece of sheet music on the island, she played the same song over and over until her husband finally took an axe to the piano and to her, and then killed himself.

Passing ships have reported that the sound of faint piano music coming from the island can be heard floating out over the waves on still, calm evenings.

Additional accounts of the paranormal include doors opening and closing by themselves, mysterous cold spots, coats being thrown onto the floor, tools disappearing and reappearing at random, and coughing from an unseen source.
The Sequin Island Lighthouse is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and is accessible by boat from Bath, Popham Beach, or Boothbay Harbor.

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Formerly known as Devil’s Elbow State Park, the area includes the cove south of the lighthouse and the lighthouse itself. The area has since been renamed Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint.

From the head keeper’s house, perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, you get a magnificent view of the water and the beach below. Because of its beautiful setting, Heceta Head Light is said to be the most photographed lighthouse in the United States.

The lighthouse tower itself is 56 feet tall and sits 205 feet above sea level. The Heceta Head Lighthouse is known to be the most powerful light on the Oregon coast. Its light can be seen 21 miles out to sea and is hampered only by the curvature of the earth.

Construction of the lighthouse began in 1892. The project completion was hampered and delayed by the cliff-top site since nothing could be done until the roads were built in order for the supplies to be brought up to the site. Although the complete project was said to have taken about 5 years, the light itself was lit for the first time in March of 1894.

The original construction consisted of the lighthouse tower, a single buidling that served as a home for the head keeper, a duplex building where the two assistant keepers lived and several storage type buildings. The single building was demolished in 1940 and the lumber was used to build The Alpha-Bit Cafe in Mapleton, Oregon, about 14 miles east of the lighthouse. The lighthouse was automated in 1963 and there was no longer a need for a lightkeeper.

The lighthouse tower itself is not thought to be haunted, but stories about strange happenings at Heceta House have been told for years, landing it on the list of the ten most haunted houses in the United States. The spirit of a lady nicknamed Rue, or the “Gray Lady” is reportedly the resident ghost of Heceta House.

Nearly every resident since the 1950s has reported unusual incidents and those reports continue to this day. All of the incidents have been friendly; maybe sometimes mischevious. Although no official records have been found, there is a grave of an infant girl on the premesis. Many people believe the spirit of the infant girl’s mother still haunts the location, possibly watching over her little girl.

This lady ghost nicknamed “Rue” doesn’t seem to like it when construction is done or changes are made to the buildings. Reportedly some volunteer workers had gone up to the location to do some painting and were spending the night. Through the night, the fire alarm kept going off. Even though no fire was discovered, the alarm continued to go off. After growing tired of being woken up by the sound of the alarm, they removed the battery, but to no avail. The alarm sounded yet again. Perhaps Rue didn’t like the color of paint they were using?

Probably the most widely known incident reported at the Heceta House is that of a workman who came face to face with Rue in the attic. He was so startled that he fled the building and refused to go back into the attic.

A few days later, he accidentally broke the attic window when he was working on the exterior of the building. Since he refuseed to actually go inside the attic, he repaired the window from the outside and the broken glass was left scattered on the floor of the attic. That night, workers reported hearing scraping noises coming from the attic. In the morning when they went to the attic to investigate, they found that the glass had been swept into a neat pile beneath the repaired window.

Rue has other ways of making her presence known including moving random objects, opening and closing cupboard doors, peering down at people from the attic window, and appearing as a smoky gray mist – thus the nickname “Gray Lady”.

Heceta house is now a renowned bed and breakfast that has become so popular that there is a three-month waiting list for reservations. Both the lighthouse and the light keeper’s house are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information visit the Heceda Head Lighthousesite.

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Located on the land protruding from the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Michigan, you’ll find the Presque Isle Lighthouse. The name Presque Isle comes from the French term that means “almost an island.” Congress appropriated $7,000 to fund the construction of the lighthouse in 1838 and construction started shortly thereafter. The lighthouse was completed in 1840.

The original Presque Isle Lighthouse tower stood 30 feet high with four foot thick walls at the base. Inside was a hand-cut stone stairway that spiraled around the interior wall of the tower up to the lantern. About 30 feet from the lighthouse a small detached single story lightkeeper’s residence was built. The light was lit for the first time in September of 1840 when the first keeper moved in.

By 1866, the keeper’s dwelling was in such poor condition that nothing short of a complete rebuild would make the structure liveable again. The owner requested that money be made available for the rennovation of the building and Congress approved the requested appropriation on March 2, 1867.

As the construction was about to begin, the Lighthouse Board changed its direction. Due to the height of the standing lighthouse tower, it was only functional to light the harbor. It was decided that instead of refurbishing the standing buildings they would construct a larger light at the tip of the peninsula about a mile north of the original, along with two range lights to help light the harbor. These new lights would render the current light virtually obsolete and the planned rennovation was cancelled.

The new lighthouse was completed in 1871 and the lightkeeper moved with his family to the new location. The new light was lit on June 1, 1871 and the lens and lantern from the original light were removed and shipped off to be used elsewhere. After the lantern was removed, the old tower was left uncapped and the windows and doors were boarded-up. The buildings stood empty and in disrepair for 26 years.

Finally, in 1897 the lighthouse and surrounding property were sold at public auction. Once again, the buildings sat in disrepair for years, being used mainly as a picnic area for guests of a nearby hotel.

When the property was purchased again in the 1930’s, the new owners rebuilt the light keeper’s dwelling in the style of an old English cottage and used it for a summer home. In the 1940’s, vacationers started asking for tours of the old light station and the owner realized that converting the property into a museum might make him some money. The old tower was refurbished, washed-out cement was replaced between the stones, and a fresh coat of white paint was applied.

The old cottage was furnished with mid-nineteenth century period items and maritime artifacts were displayed in the cottage as well as on the grounds. The station finally got electricity in 1965, and the light was reactivated in the tower. The Coast Guard wouldn’t allow it to be used as an official lighthouse, however, so the old light was again deactivated.

In 1977, a retired couple, George and Lorraine Parris took over the property as live-in tour guides and custodians. George was a personable man who enjoyed his job at the lighthouse and loved greeting the visitors to the lighthouse, especially the children. He enjoyed taking the visitors to the lighthouse on a tour of the buildings and grounds and shared stories of the lives of the lightkeepers and their families. He also liked to play harmless pranks on visitors by blowing the foghorn just to make sure everyone was paying attention. The loud, unexpected sound gave everyone a start. Sadly, George died of a massive heart attack on January 2, 1992.

Lorraine stayed on and continued their work at the tower. One night on her way back to the light station, she saw a light shining in the old lighthouse. Knowing full well that this was impossible since George had disconnected the electricity to the tower years before, she was a bit frazzled.

The Coast Guard had said it was illegal to display a light in the old tower because mariners might confuse it with the New Presque Lighthouse. To ensure that no accidental lighting would occur, the Coast Guard had actually removed the gears so the lens could no longer rotate. It was impossible to come up with a reasonable explanation for why the light was there.

Soon other people began reporting the light in the old tower. National Guard pilots have reported seeing it when they flew night missions over the peninsula. There have also been reports that George’s light guiding people to safety on dark, stormy, foggy nights. To this day, the light still comes on at dusk and goes off at daylight. The U.S. Coast Guard has classified it as n “unidentified” light.

In July 1992, a little girl reported seeing a man at the top of the stairs leading to the lantern room. The little girl said he was a tall man with white hair, a beard, and was wearing glasses. When she was shown a picture of George, she said that was the man she saw in the tower but he was “brighter white” when she saw him. Another story, possibly a different version of the same story, reports that a little girl touring the lighthouse with her family climbed to the top of the tower and came back down giggling. She said she had been talking to the man in the tower.

The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Sites in 1973. The area was incorporated into the State Park by the State of Michigan and donated to the Township in 1995. The Township Historical Society continues to operate the lighthouse as a museum open seven days a week from May through October.

For more info please visit the lighthouse site: Old Presque Isle Lighthouse .

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Located at the southern end of Gasparilla Island you’ll find the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Right next to the lighthouse sits its twin – a building that served as the lighthouse keeper’s assitant’s home. Originally built in 1890, these two buildings were nearly lost to the sea. By 1970, the shoreline had been eroded by hundreds of feet and the sea was beginning to reach the lighthouse foundation. Local concern grew and the government took steps ensure the lighthouse would be around for future generations.

When phosphate was discovered several miles upriver from the lighthouse’s future location in the early 1880’s, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande and then loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the increased business of the port, Congress appriated $35,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.

Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked in the lighthouse from 1890 until 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a home for the lighthouse keeper and his family, and the twin building next to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper would take care of the light until midnight, and then his assistant would tend to the light for the rest of the night.

The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is thought to have two ghosts. During the lighthouse’s history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the dwelling, most likely of diphtheria or whooping cough. Tour guides say that she can be heard playing in one of the rooms of the building’s upper floor. A former park ranger who led tours of the lighthouse, often pointed to a doorway on the second floor and told visitors that it was one of the little girl’s favorite places to play. the former ranger also said that at midnight, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.

The second ghost is said to be the headless spectre of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate, Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was to be built some ninety years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had kidnapped. She wasn’t interested and when she rejected his love, he drew his sword in a fit of rage and cut off her head. Shamed by what he had done to Josefa, Gasparilla gathered up her lifeless body and buried her in the sand on the island. Unfortunately for her, his love for her was so great that he didn’t want to leave her and legend says he carried his beloved’s head with him for the rest of his days. Reports say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the beach on Gasparilla Island, presumably looking for her head.

The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1956. Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard removed the light from the building, which was deteriorating due to neglect and beach erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over ownership of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and began a long process to save the building. Funds were raised by the Gasparilla Island Conservation Association, and the lighthouse was restored.

The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse was relit and returned to service as a working Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land was transferred from Lee County to the State of Florida and became Gasparilla Island State Park.

The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the public. Although it’s fenced off, you can get a great view of the lighthouse from the nearby park and beach. The assistant keeper’s house is now used as a house for the park ranger.

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