Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse

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Ponce de Leon Inlet Light

(Ponce Inlet, Florida)

Just south of Daytona Beach, Florida the Ponce de Leon Inlet is where the Halifax River and the Indian River North join. Until 1927 the inlet was called the Mosquito Inlet. In 1927 the named was changed to Ponce Inlet. Due to the currents and shallow sand bars in the area a lighthouse was determined necessary.

The first lighthouse at Mosquito Inlet was built by Winslow Lewis of Boston in 1835. It was located on a small hill on the south side of the inlet. It was a 45-foot brick tower that contained 15 Lewis lamps. Unfortunately, the lighthouse never became operational due to a lack of oil. Then shortly after it was built a fierce storm washed away the sand around the base making it very weak and leaning to one side. Indian wars in the area prevented repair work from being performed and about a year after it was built the first lighthouse toppled into the sea.

Ship wrecks continued to occur in the area and again a lighthouse was requested. Even though the inlet itself did not require a large coastal light, the government determined that a coastal light was needed to fill in the area between St. Augustine and Cape Canaveral. The area of Mosquito Inlet appeared to be the best place and so on November 15, 1883 the U.S. Government bought ten acres of land on the north side of the inlet for the construction of lighthouse that would serve as both a harbor light and a coastal light. Work began in February 1884. Funding problems and running out of materials delayed completion but in October 1887 the lighthouse was completed. The light was illuminated for the first time on November 1, 1887. This is the same lighthouse that stands today. Besides the tower, there were also built an oil house, three brick keeper’s homes, and a couple outbuildings.

The lighthouse tower sits on a brick foundation that is 12 feet deep and 45 feet in diameter. The tower is 32 feet across at the base and extends 176.5 feet into the air. It is the tallest of the Florida lighthouses. The walls are 8 feet thick at the base and 2 feet thick at the top where the outside diameter is 12.5 feet. There were approximately 1,250,000 bricks used in the construction of the tower. The bricks were obtained from Baltimore, Maryland. The structure was not painted but was “red-washed”. This was done so as not to hide the beauty of the brickwork. There are 193 iron spiral steps leading to the top of the lighthouse (213 if you include the entrance steps).

The lighthouse was initially equipped with a 1^st-order Fresnel lens that weighted nearly 2,000 pounds. It sat on a 6-foot tall cast iron pedestal. There was no rotating mechanism and the characteristic was a steady fixed white light that could seen about 20 miles out to sea. In 1909 an incandescent oil-vapor lamp replaced the kerosene lamp and in 1933 the tower was electrified. When the lamp was converted to electricity the 1^st order Fresnel lens was removed and a rotating 3^rd-order Fresnel lens installed. The 3^rd-order lens came from the discontinued Sapelo Island lighthouse in Georgia. The range of the flashing electric lamp through the 3^rd-order lens is about the same as the IOV lamp through the 1^st-order lens. In 1967 the light was upgraded from a 500-watt bulb to a 1000-watt bulb.

In March of 1970 the government decommissioned the Ponce de Leon Light having built a new more modern light at the New Smyrna Beach Coast Guard Station. The land was deeded to the town of Ponce Inlet in 1972 and during the same year the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The new lighthouse at New Smyrna Beach served until 1982. In 1978 plans were approved for the building of a new high-rise condominium on the south side of the inlet. It wasn’t realized until the high-rise was finished that the structure obscured the lighthouse light, so on December 15, 1982 the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse was reactivated with a FA 250 modern optic. This lamp was destroyed by lightning in 1996 and was replaced by the present optic, a Vega VBR-25 beacon.

The lighthouse is owned by the town of Ponce Inlet but it is operated and maintained by the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, Inc. The Association is a Florida-chartered non-profit, tax-exempt, historical and educational organization founded in 1972 for the express purpose of restoring and interpreting the historic Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station. Over the years they have restored all the buildings to their original condition. The latest restoration to the tower took place in 2000–2001. The project was carried out by the International Chimney Corporation of Buffalo, New York. It included restoration of the main and lantern galleries, cleaning and repainting the dome and the iron staircase inside the tower, and sandblasting and repainting the inside and outside of the tower.

The Ponce de Leon Light Station is one of only a handful of lighthouses in the U.S. that has all of its original buildings still intact. The grounds are beautifully kept up and are open daily to the public for a small fee. The tower can be climbed. The three keeper’s homes have been turned in to museums. Other buildings include the gift shop, the woodshed, the pump house, the oil storage house, and the generator/radio shack building.

In 1995 the Ayres Davis Lens Exhibit Building was constructed to house a growing collection of lighthouse lenses and exhibits explaining the history and technology of lighthouse lighting systems. In this building is displayed the 1^st-order Fresnel lens that was used in the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse from 1868 to 1993 and the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse’s 3^rd-order Fresnel lens.

Directions: State Route A-1-A is the same as Atlantic Avenue. Proceed south on A-1-A to Dunlawton Avenue. Continue south another six miles to the four-way stop sign at Beach Street in Ponce Inlet. Turn right (west) on Beach Street. Go to the next four-way stop, and turn left (south) on Peninsula Drive. In two blocks you will see the entrance of the Lighthouse on your left.

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