Lighthouses of the Florida Keys: A Short History and Guide

by Love Dean

Except for two land-based lighthouses (at Cape Florida and Key West), the lighthouses of the Florida Keys comprise the largest collection of iron screwpile lighthouses in the world. This is a history of the individual lights, including their construction, repairs needed due to storms, and the politics that have always swirled around them as surely as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Florida Straits. This detailed account will transport you to a time when wreckers cruised the sea and lighthouse keepers diligence saved the lives of many mariners. Read an 1836 letter found in the U.S. Naval Historical Center, Washington, DC, describing the naval personnel's experience at the Cape Florida Lighthouse during an Indian attack. Take a tour of Carysfort Lighthouse described in a newly found 1875 diary. Read interviews with the Coast Guard on the latest navigational innovations. For lighthouse lovers and Keys history fans alike.

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1992

Reviews

[William Barney]

“Lighthouses of the Florida Keys” by Love Dean is a great compilation on the history behind each one of the lighthouses located in Southeastern Florida spanning from Key Biscayne all the way down to the Dry Tortugas. Each lighthouse has a unique history and the stories behind each one is interesting and gives an inside look on how it was to live and maintain these reef sentinels in one of America’s most treacherous waterways. The lighthouses that struck me the most were:

1. Cape Florida Lighthouse
2. Fowey Rocks Lighthouse
3. Sombrero Key Lighthouse
4. Key West Lighthouse
5. Sand Key Lighthouse
6. Garden Key Lighthouse
7. Loggerhead Lighthouse

Nice, informative book on one of Florida’s unique regions and lighthouses 💡

[Josh Liller]

"Lighthouses of the Florida Keys" is an updated version of the author's earlier book, Reef Lights: Seaswept Lighthouses of the Florida Keys. This book was published in 1998; the original was in 1982 and Love Dean took the opportunity not only to update the status of the lighthouses involved, but also add some new research.

This book covers all 12 light stations in the Florida Keys: Loggerhead Key and Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas; Rebecca Shoal; Northwest Passage; Sand Key, Key West; Sombrero Key; American Shoal; Alligator Reef; and Carysforf Reef. It also covers Fowey Rocks, which is is often included with the Keys lights due to being on the Florida Reef, and Cape Florida which was replaced by Fowey Rocks. Each lighthouse is given its own largely standalone chapter, except for the two Tortugas lights which are combined. Photos and architectural drawings are scattered throughout with some color photos in the middle. The book is well-cited and the author did a good range of research including the National Archives' "clipping files" for each light station, logbooks, historical reports, and contacting the Coast Guard Aids-To-Navigation team for information about the current status and optics at each lighthouse.

Writing about each lighthouse as a separate chapter leads to some repetition. I would have structured the book a bit differently to cut down the repetition, especially as there is alot of overlap between the histories of the lights. Some of the information provided about keepers is a bit clunky. I would have liked to see all the lights marked on a single map. There is deeper research that can be done on this subject in the National Archives, but for a general history of a dozen lighthouses in a single this is pretty solid.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in lighthouses, and moderately recommended for those interested in general Florida history too.