Tennessee Reef Light, off Long Key State Park, Florida Keys, Florida
Skeleton tower light built in 1933.
TENNESSEE REEF LIGHT
Location: IN 15 FEET OF WATER ON WEST SIDE OF SHOAL, SOUTH OF LONG KEY
Station Established: 1933
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1933
Operational: No
Automated: 1933
Deactivated: Yes
Tower Shape / Markings / Pattern: Black; tank house on hexagonal, pyramidal skeleton tower, on piles.
Height: 49-feet
Original lens: Fourth Order
Characteristic: Flashing white, flash 0.3 seconds
Fog Signal: None
Historical Information:
- Design for a standardized wrought iron structure developed in 1932.
- Tennessee Reef Light was established in 1933. Identical structures put in place were Cosgrove Shoal Light (1935), Smith Shoal Light (1933) and the Pulaski Shoal Light (1935).
- This is the only one of the unmanned reef lights in the Florida Keys that still has its lantern.
Shipwrecks:
- 1872 - Virginia, carrying iron & glass from Antwerp to New Orleans, wrecked on March 29.
- 1881 - Steamship Erl King, carrying assorted cargo, wrecked on January 18.
- 1889 - Bark Bridesmaid, carrying lumber from Pensacola to Rotterdam, wrecked on January 27.
- 1909 - Steamship Olympia, carrying coal from Norfolk to Vera Cruz, wrecked on March 25.
- 1909 - Steamship Kelvenhead, also carrying coal from Norfolk to Vera Cruz, wrecked on June 14.
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society