The Gulf Stream, trade winds, and numerous natural harbors encouraged a sea-approach discovery of Florida thousands of years after pre-colonial inhabitants had mastered its inland and coastal waterways.

by Roger C. Smith

With more coastline than any state in the continental United States, life in Florida has always been tied to the sea. For thousands of years, Florida's people have depended on the vast natural resources and sanctuary that the shores provide. Native Americans lived on this peninsula thousands of years before Europeans arrived in sailing ships early in the 16th century. Each of these early inhabitants left a legacy of remains and reminders of their communities along Florida's bays and barrier islands. The nation's first European settlements, Pensacola in 1559 and St. Augustine in 1565, were located at two of Florida's superb natural harbors. Even today, Florida's fortune is linked to coastal and maritime commerce, defense, lifestyles, and tourism.

To nurture the public's understanding and interest in Florida's coastal resources, the Florida Department of State's Bureau of Archaeological Research has created the Florida Maritime Heritage Trail. Six thematic segments comprise this collective trail: Lighthouses, Coastal Communities, Historic Ports, Coastal Environments, Historic Shipwrecks, and Coastal Forts. Rather than a marked route, each segment of the Florida Maritime Heritage Trail is presented on an extensive Internet web page and in a series of six poster/brochures which describe the history and maritime importance of representative sites.

Lighthouses

Lighthouses have guided mariners along dangerous stretches of Florida's coastline and into safe harbors for more than 150 years. With fingers of light shining miles out to sea, these remarkable feats of engineering stand in lonely service like silent sentinels along Florida's beaches. Each one of the state's 30 lighthouses has a distinctive daytime color and a unique nocturnal light sequence to aid in navigating more than 1,100 miles of coastline.

Florida's first coastal navigational aid was a 1586 Spanish watchtower at St. Augustine. The first true lighthouse was a 73-foot harbor light built there in 1824. But offshore masonry towers proved vulnerable to storms. The lighthouse built in 1827 on Sand Key near Key West collapsed in an 1846 hurricane, killing 14 people who sought refuge there. The new screw-pile design provided stronger anchoring in sandy soils, and its open iron framework offered less resistance to storm force winds and waves. Between 1852 and 1900 more than a dozen pile lighthouses were built along Florida's dangerous reefs - and remain in use today. Examples of the screw-pile design stand proudly today at the Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range Lighthouse in Port Charlotte and the Cape San Blas Lighthouse west of Apalachicola.

By 1939, lighthouses were placed under the care of the U.S. Coast Guard. Lightkeepers became obsolete in the 1960s with the Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project (LAMP) which uses electric timers, photo sensitive cells and backup generators to light sailors' passage to safety. Most of Florida's lighthouses have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and many are located in what are now parks, wildlife refuges or recreational areas. Access to each lighthouse varies. This segment of the trail provides photos, background and contact information for 15 lighthouses in the state.

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