St. Johns River Lighthouse

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St. Johns River Light

(Mayport, Florida)

The St. Johns River empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Mayport, Florida that is just south of Jacksonville, Florida. The present St. Johns River Light was the third lighthouse built on the St. Johns River. This lighthouse is often referred to as the Mayport Light.

With increased shipping traffic in the area, Congress appropriated money necessary to build a lighthouse at the mouth of the St. Johns River. The light was completed in 1830. It didn’t last very long due to land erosion and a second one was built in 1835. The second light was located about one mile up the river. Eventually, riverbank erosion threatened this lighthouse as well and in 1859 the existing tower was constructed.

When initially built, the tower was approximately 66 feet tall. It was constructed of red brick with a lantern room on top. A brick oil house was attached to the tower’s base through which one would gain access to the tower. In 1887, the tower was raised by fifteen feet, which brought the tower’s height to 81 feet. The light was equipped with a 3^rd-order Fresnel lens.

Mariners complained about the inadequacy of the St. Johns River Lighthouse during the early 1900s. There was a desire to develop the Jacksonville Port and a coastal light was needed. Since the St. Johns River Light was not designed as a coastal light, being insufficiently tall and containing only a 3^rd-order lens, it was decided to deactivate the light in 1929 and station a lightship seven miles offshore from the mouth of the St. Johns River. The lightship was relocated from Brunswick, Georgia and renamed the St. Johns Lightship. The lightship was replaced by the St. Johns Light Station in 1954.

Today, the historic lighthouse sits on the grounds of the Mayport Naval Station. When the Navy added the nearby runway they graded and raised the area surrounding the lighthouse by adding about 10 feet of fill to the existing elevation. This resulted in burying the bottom 10 feet of the original tower. The entrance door is now underground so the only access to the inside of the lighthouse is through a window. The oil house is no longer there but the outline of where the top of the oil house roof attached to the tower can be seen. Given that the height of the oil house was probably about 18 feet tall, this gives a good perspective as to how much of the tower was buried.

In 1969 the U.S. Coast Guard turned the tower over to the Navy. The Navy did some restoration work and in 1982 the historic tower was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Directions: The Lighthouse is located on the Mayport Naval Station. Access to the lighthouse is therefore subject to obtaining permission from the Navy personnel. However, the lighthouse is quite close to the military property fence and can be easily viewed from Mayport. From Route A1A take Broad Street towards the direction of the Naval Station.

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