Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, Jupiter, Florida
JUPITER INLET LIGHT
Location: LOXAHATCHEE & INDIAN RIVER JUNCTION
Station Established: 1860
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1860
Operational: YES
Automated: YES 1928
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: OYSTER SHELLS
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape / Markings / Pattern: Tower of red brick, natural color; oil-house near tower. One-and-a-half story stone dwelling and two-story white dwelling.
Height: 146-feet
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FIRST ORDER, FRESNEL 1860
Characteristic: Fixed white varied by a white flash every 90 seconds
Foghorn: None
Historical Information:
- Building was designed by George Meade. Construction was interrupted by the 3rd Seminole War (1855 - 1858).
- 1860 - Lighthouse first lit on July 10th.
- Civil War - Confederates sabotaged the lens and rotating apparatus so that the lighthouse became inoperative.
- 1866 - The light was relit on June 28.
- 1886 - Life-saving station established near the lighthouse.
- 1879 - Lighthouse survived two earthquakes.
- 1910 - Due to deterioration, the exterior brick was covered with red-colored cement.
- 1928 - Lighthouse was electrified. Then, in September, a powerful hurricane knocked out the electricity forcing the keeper’s son (subbing for his injured father) to turn the rotating mechanism by hand. The hurricane also caused the lighthouse to sway 17’ and the wind blew glass out of the lantern & broke one of the bulls-eyes in the lens.
- 1959 – Keeper’s house torn down and new quarters built.
- 1973 - Added to National Register of Historic Places.
Keepers:
- Captain James Armour (post Civil War - 1908)
- Captain Joe Wells (1908 - ?)
- Captain Charles Seabrook (1919 - 1947)
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Light House Society.