Jupiter Inlet Light
The Jupiter Inlet lighthouse
Location:	north side of the Jupiter Inlet in Jupiter, Florida
Coordinates	26°56′55″N 80°04′55″W / 26.94861°N 80.08194°W / 26.94861; -80.08194
Year first lit:	1860
Automated:	1928
Foundation:	oyster shells
Construction:	brick
Tower shape:	conical tower
Height:	108 feet (tower) 146 feet (above water)
Original lens:	first order Fresnel lens
Range:	25 nm
Characteristic:	Fixed white varied by a white flash every 90 seconds

The Jupiter Inlet Light is located in Jupiter, Florida, on the north side of the Jupiter Inlet. The site for the lighthouse was chosen in 1853. It is located between Cape Canaveral Light and Hillsboro Inlet Light. The lighthouse was designed by then Lieutenant George G. Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers. The Jupiter Inlet silted shut in 1854, forcing all building supplies to be shipped in light boats down the Indian River. Work was interrupted from 1856 to 1858 by the Third Seminole War. The lighthouse was completed in 1860 at a cost of more than $60,000.00.

The lighthouse was built on an Indian shell mound (midden). The top of the 105 foot tower is 146 feet above sea level. The light can be seen 25 miles at sea. The walls are 31 inches thick at the base and taper to 18 inches near the top. The tower was left unpainted for the first fifty years, but had grown so discolored that it was painted red around 1910.

During the Civil War blockade runners brought supplies to the Confederacy through the Jupiter Inlet, while the Union Navy tried to stop them. Fearing that the lighthouse was an aide to the Union ships, a group of Confederate sympathizers disabled the light and removed the machinery from the lighthouse. A Union agent found the machinery where it had been hidden, and took it by boat to Key West, Florida for safekeeping.

The lighthouse was put back into service after the war. The lighthouse was very isolated. Supplies were delivered once a year by boat. The year's supply of flour would go bad with weevils and worms. The lighthouse keepers had to fish and hunt to provide food. They would also buy venison from the Seminoles for ten cents a pound.

In 1928 the mineral oil lamps and the weights that turned the lamp were replaced with electrical equipment, and a diesel generator was installed for emergency backup. The Okeechobee Hurricane the same year cut the electric power and damaged the diesel generator, so the keeper reinstalled the oil lamps, and his 16-year old son turned the lamp by hand through the storm. The top of the lighthouse swayed 17 inches during the hurricane.

Jupiter Inlet Light was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

[edit] Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum

The Loxahatchee River Historical Society operates the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum, which is open daily except Monday. The museum is located in Lighthouse Park, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter, Florida. Visitors can climb the lighthouse tower.

[edit] References

• McCarthy, Kevin M. 1990. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Florida Lighthouses. (pp.33-36). University of Florida Press.

[edit] External links

U.S. Coast Guard Archive

• Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum - official site
• Jupiter Lighthouse Pictures
• U.S. Coast Guard List of Historic Light Stations
• National Register of Historic Places

v • d • e Lighthouses of Florida See also: List of operating lighthouses in Florida Alligator Reef • Amelia Island • Amelia Island North Range • American Shoal • Anclote Keys • Cape Canaveral • Cape Florida • Cape San Blas • Cape St. George • Carysfort Reef • Cedar Key • Charlotte Harbor • Crooked River • Dames Point • Dog Island • Dry Tortugas • Egmont Key • Fowey Rocks • Garden Key • Gasparilla Island • Hillsboro Inlet • Jupiter Inlet • Key West • Northwest Passage • Pensacola • Ponce de Leon Inlet • Rebecca Shoal • Sand Key • Sanibel Island • Sombrero Key • St. Augustine • St. Johns • St. Johns River • St. Joseph Point • St. Marks • Unmanned reef lights of the Florida Keys • Volusia Bar

v • d • e U.S. National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register · History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property List of entries National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historical Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments