Northwest Passage Light, eight miles from Key West, Florida
Screwpile style lighthouse built in 1838.
NORTHWEST PASSAGE LIGHT (KEY WEST)
Location: APPROACH TO KEY WEST, GULF OF MEXICO, KEY WEST FLORIDA, IN 4 FEET OF WATER, ON THE WESTERLY SIDE OF THE NORTHERLY END OF NORTHWEST CHANNEL TO KEY WEST HARBOR
Station Established: 1838
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1879
Operational? NO
Automated? 1911
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: IRON PILINGS
Construction Materials: WOOD FRAME
Tower Shape: SQUARE COTTAGE WITH LATTERN ON TOP
Markings/Pattern:
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER FRESNEL
Historical Information:
- The Northwest Passage Light was located on the northwest channel at the entrance of the Key West Harbor. A lightship was stationed there in 1838.
- The Great Havana Hurricane ripped through the area in 1846 destroying the Sand Key and Key West Lighthouses. It is not known the fate of the lightship.
- Money was appropriated to build a lighthouse on the site. The lighthouse was completed in 1855.
- The lighthouse was fitted with a fifth order Fresnel lens. That lens was replaced with a fourth order lens after the Civil War. In 1879 the original lighthouse was replaced with a screwpile type structure on the original iron pilings.
- The light was automated in 1911. It is unknown when the light was deactivated. The structure burned 1971 leaving only the pilings.