Dry Tortugas Light

July 23, 2019
PRINT | E-MAIL
Dry Tortugas Light (Loggerhead Key Light), Loggerhead Key, west of Fort Jefferson, Florida
Established 1858

DRY TORTUGAS (LOGGERHEAD KEY) LIGHT

Location: LOGGERHEAD KEY, FAR WESTERN END OF DRY TORTUGAS, FLORIDA
Station Established: 1858
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1858
Operational? YES
Automated? 1988
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: STONE 
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Markings/Pattern: UPPER BLACK, LOWER WHITE
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE 
Original Lens: FIRST ORDER FRESNEL

Historical Information:

  • The light on Loggerhead Key is a 150-foot tall lighthouse. The walls were 3 feet 9 inches thick at the base and 2 feet 9 inches at the top. Outside it tapered from 28 feet at the base to 13 feet at the top.
  • The light was seriously damaged in two hurricanes, one in October 1873 and one in September 1875. The light was considered essential so the funds were appropriated to repair the light. 
  • The light is the last lighthouse seen heading from Key West into the Gulf of Mexico.
  • The light is an active aid to navigation and not open to public.

Researched and written by Melissa Buckler, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.