Gasparilla Island Lighthouse

by Donna Kennedy

Title

Gasparilla Island Lighthouse

Artist

Donna Kennedy

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Original Fine Art Photography by Donna Kennedy...
Photographed at Sunrise on the beach at Port Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island, FL

Pyramidal skeletal towers became popular in the late 1800s as they could be built at roughly half the cost of a stone or brick tower of the same height. Another advantage they had was that since they were constructed of prefabricated sections, it was possible to disassemble and move them. Such was the case for Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range Lighthouse. This hexagonal tower was built in 1881 by the Phoenix Iron Company of Trenton, New Jersey, and put into service at a station just north of Lewes, Delaware, where it served as the Delaware Breakwater Rear Range Light. The companion front range light was the Delaware Breakwater West End Lighthouse from November 1, 1881, when the rear range light was activated, until the end of 1902. Starting in 1903, the rear range light was paired with the Delaware Breakwater East End Lighthouse.
The range lights served to guide vessels past the tip of Cape Henlopen and into Delaware Bay, however, the shifting shoreline on the cape resulted in the lights becoming ineffective, and the rear range light was discontinued in 1918. The tower stood inactive until it was dismantled and shipped by rail to Miami, Florida in 1921. A few years later, the tower was sent to Gasparilla Island, where in 1927 it was reassembled, painted white, and rechristened Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range Lighthouse. The transplanted tower remained dark until it was finally lit in 1932.
Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range Light worked in conjunction with a flashing light atop a twenty-foot-tall steel structure located offshore. When a captain positioned his vessel so that the light from the rear range was positioned directly above the flashing light of the front range, he knew he was in the middle of the shipping channel. The captain would continue north in the channel, until he reached a series of towers that marked the channel leading east to the safe anchorage at Port Boca Grande.

On February 28, 1980, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Restoration work began in 1985, and in 1986 the light was recommissioned.

Thank you to the Administrators that Featured this photo in the following Groups:
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July 20th, 2017

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