Cape Florida Light
Encyclopedia
The Cape Florida Light is a lighthouse
on Cape Florida at the south end of Key Biscayne
in Miami-Dade County
, Florida
. It was built in 1825 and operated, with interruptions, until 1878, when it was replaced by the Fowey Rocks lighthouse. The lighthouse was put back into use in 1978. The lighthouse marked a reef
four miles (6 km) (6 km or 7 km) off-shore, and still marks the Florida Channel, the deepest natural channel into Biscayne Bay
. The construction contract called for a 65 feet (19.8 m) tower with walls of solid brick, five feet thick at the bottom tapering to two feet thick at the top. It was later found that the contractor had scrimped on materials and built hollow walls. The first keeper of the lighthouse was Captain John Dubose, who served for more than ten years. In 1835 a major hurricane struck the island, damaging the lighthouse and the keeper's house, and putting the island under three feet of water.
started in 1835 the Seminole
s attacked the few European-American settlers in southern Florida. In January 1836 the Seminoles massacred the family of William Cooley
at their coontie plantation on the New River
, in what is now Fort Lauderdale
. On hearing of the massacre, the settlers on the mainland around the Miami River
crossed over Biscayne Bay to the lighthouse. As the island was not considered safe, the settlers and Captain Dubose's family moved on to Key West
to seek refuge. Later in January, Lt. George M. Bache, U.S. Navy, arrived from Key West with a small work party to fortify the lighthouse tower by boarding up the ground floor windows and reinforcing the door. On July 18, 1836, Captain Dubose left the lighthouse on leave to visit his family in Key West, leaving his assistant keeper, John W. B. Thompson, in charge, with an African-American assistant, Aaron Carter.
Five days later, on July 23, 1836, a band of Seminoles attacked the lighthouse. Thompson and Carter were able to make it into the lighthouse tower, although Thompson later reported that rifle balls passed through his clothes and hat, and that the Seminoles grabbed hold of the door as he was turning the key in the lock. Thompson exchanged rifle fire with the Seminoles from upper windows in the tower for the rest of the day, but after dark the Seminoles were able to approach the tower and set fire to the door and a boarded up window at ground level. Rifle balls had penetrated tanks in the bottom of the tower which held 225 gallons of lamp oil for the light, and the oil caught fire from the burning door. Thompson's clothing was soaked in the oil, and he and Carter retreated to the top of the tower, taking a keg of gunpowder, balls, and a rifle with them. The two men managed to cut away a part of the wooden stairway in the tower before being driven out of the top of the tower by the flames.
The flames coming up the interior of the tower were so bad that Thompson and Carter were forced to leave the lantern at the top and lie down on the 2 foot (0.6096 m) platform that ran around the outside of the lantern. Thompson's clothes were burning, and both he and Carter had been wounded by the Seminoles' rifle balls. The lighthouse lens and the glass panes of the lantern were shattering from the heat. Sure that he was going to die and wanting it to end quickly, Thompson threw the gunpowder keg down the inside of the tower. The keg exploded, but did not topple the tower. It dampened the fire briefly, but the fire soon was as fierce as ever. The fire did die down soon after, and Thompson then discovered that Carter had died from his wounds and from the fire.
The next day Thompson saw the Seminoles looting and then burning the other buildings at the lighthouse station. They apparently thought that Thompson was dead, as they had stopped firing at him. After the Seminoles left, Thompson remained trapped at the top of the tower. He had three rifle balls in each foot, and the stairway in the tower had been burned away. Later that day he saw an approaching ship. The United States Navy
schooner
Motto had heard the explosion of the gunpowder keg from twelve miles (19 km or 22 km) away and had come to investigate. The men from the ship were surprised to find Thompson alive. The sailors and marines from the Motto were unable to get Thompson down from the tower, and left the island for the night. The next day the men from the Motto and from another schooner, the Pee Dee, returned and devised a means of getting Thompson off of the tower by firing a ramrod tied to a small line up to him, which was then used to haul up a rope strong enough to lift two men to the top of the tower. Thompson was taken first to Key West, and then to Charleston, South Carolina
, to recover from his wounds.
. The contract went to the low bidder at US$7,995. The lighthouse was completed and re-lit in April, 1847. The new keeper was Reason Duke, who had lived with his family on the Miami River until the Second Seminole War forced evacuation to Key Biscayne and then on to Key West. While in Key West his daughter Elizabeth had married James Dubose, son of John Dubose, the first keeper.
Temple Pent became the Cape Florida Light keeper in 1852. He was replaced by Robert R. Fletcher in 1854. Charles S. Barron became the keeper in 1855. The height of the tower was extended to 95 feet (29 m) in 1855, to extend the reach of the light beyond the off-shore reefs. That year the original lamp and lens system was replaced by a second order Fresnel lens brought to Cape Florida by Lt. Col. George Meade
of the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers
. The extended tower with its new, more powerful light, was re-lit in March 1856.
Simeon Frow became the keeper in 1859. Confederate
sympathizers destroyed the lighthouse lamp and lens in 1861. The light was repaired in 1866, and Temple Pent, who had served as the lighthouse keeper in 1853-1854, was re-appointed keeper. He was replaced in 1868 by John Frow, son of Simeon Frow, who had served as the keeper just before the Civil War. John Frow continued as keeper until the Cape Florida Light was taken out of service in 1878. Even with its superior height and more powerful lamp and lens, the Cape Florida Light was still deemed to be insufficient for warning ships away from the offshore reefs, and it was decided to build an iron-pile lighthouse
on Fowey Rocks
, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Cape Florida. When that was completed 1n 1878, the Cape Florida lighthouse was taken out of service. Keeper John Frow and his father Simeon became the first keepers at the new lighthouse at Fowey Rocks.
From 1888 to 1893, the Cape Florida lighthouse was leased by the United States Secretary of the Treasury
for a total of US$1.00 (20 cents per annum) to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club for use as its headquarters. It was listed as the southernmost yacht club in the United States, and the tallest in the world. After the lease expired, the yacht club moved to Coconut Grove
, where it still exists.
In 1898, in response to the growing tension with Spain
over Cuba
that resulted in the Spanish-American War
, the Cape Florida lighthouse was briefly made U.S. Signal Station Number Four, one of 36 along the U.S. East Coast
and Gulf Coast
from Maine
to Texas
. The Signal Stations were established to provide an early warning of the approach of the Spanish fleet.
The land around the lighthouse at the end of the 19th century belonged to Waters Davis. His parents had purchased the title to a Spanish land grant for the southern part of Key Biscayne soon after the United States acquired Florida from Spain
, and had sold the 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) the lighthouse was built on to the U.S. government in 1825. Although there had been competing claims on the land, Davis was able to resolve most of them and received a patent from the United States government for his land in 1898. In 1903 Davis bought the abandoned Cape Florida lighthouse from the United States Treasury for US$400.
Waters Davis sold his Key Biscayne property, including the lighthouse, to James Deering
, International Harvester
heir and owner of Villa Vizcaya
in Miami, in 1913. One stipulation that Davis had made in the sale to Deering was that the Cape Florida lighthouse be restored. When Deering wrote to the U.S. government seeking specifications and guidelines for the lighthouse, government officials were taken aback by the request, wondering how a lighthouse could have passed into private hands. It was soon discovered that an Act of Congress and two Executive Orders, in 1847 and 1897, had reserved the island for the lighthouse and for military purposes. Patient legal work eventually convinced the U.S. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson
to agree to recognize Deering's ownership of the Cape Florida area of Key Biscayne, including the lighthouse.
Beach erosion was threatening to undermine the lighthouse. Examination of records showed that a quarter-mile of beach had washed away in front of the lighthouse in the 90 years since it had been built. Deering had engineers inspect the tower to see what restoration work was needed. The engineers discovered that the foundations for the tower were only four feet deep. Deering ordered sandbagging at the base of the tower and the construction of jetties in an attempt to stop the erosion. The engineers first proposed driving pilings under the lighthouse to bedrock to support the tower, but soon discovered that there was no hard bedrock. The engineers then built a concrete foundation with steel casing, which was found to be in excellent condition when inspected in 1988. The tower has subsequently survived the eyewall
of the 1926 Miami Hurricane
and the close passage of Hurricane Andrew
in 1992.
The southern third of Key Biscayne, including the lighthouse, was bought by the State of Florida in 1966, and became what is now the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
. The lighthouse tower and keeper's house have been restored. In 1978 the Coast Guard
installed an automated light in the tower as a navigational aide, particularly to help boaters find the Florida Channel at night.
, most extensively during the two-part episode "Mirror Image" (first aired May 6, 1988). At that time, it had not yet been repainted and still had the exposed red brick exterior. This was not the lighthouse's first appearance in popular media, however. It was also featured briefly at the end of the 1945 John Wayne
film They Were Expendable
and as the backdrop of a grisly murder in the 1985 Kurt Russell
thriller The Mean Season
. The lighthouse made its most recent television appearance in the third season of Burn Notice
.
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
on Cape Florida at the south end of Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami...
in Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. It was built in 1825 and operated, with interruptions, until 1878, when it was replaced by the Fowey Rocks lighthouse. The lighthouse was put back into use in 1978. The lighthouse marked a reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
four miles (6 km) (6 km or 7 km) off-shore, and still marks the Florida Channel, the deepest natural channel into Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
. The construction contract called for a 65 feet (19.8 m) tower with walls of solid brick, five feet thick at the bottom tapering to two feet thick at the top. It was later found that the contractor had scrimped on materials and built hollow walls. The first keeper of the lighthouse was Captain John Dubose, who served for more than ten years. In 1835 a major hurricane struck the island, damaging the lighthouse and the keeper's house, and putting the island under three feet of water.
Attack on the lighthouse
When the Second Seminole WarSeminole Wars
The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole — the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of native Americans and Black people who settled in Florida in the early 18th century — and the United States Army...
started in 1835 the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
s attacked the few European-American settlers in southern Florida. In January 1836 the Seminoles massacred the family of William Cooley
William Cooley
William Cooley was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County, in the U.S. state of Florida. His family was killed by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War...
at their coontie plantation on the New River
New River (Broward County, Florida)
The New River is a river in South Florida, USA. The river originates in the Everglades and flows east. After passing through Fort Lauderdale, the river enters the Atlantic Ocean at Port Everglades cut. The river is entirely within Broward County and is composed from the junction of three main...
, in what is now Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
. On hearing of the massacre, the settlers on the mainland around the Miami River
Miami River (Florida)
The Miami River is a river in the United States state of Florida that drains out of the Everglades and runs through the Downtown and the city of Miami. The long river flows from the terminus of the Miami Canal at Miami International Airport to Biscayne Bay...
crossed over Biscayne Bay to the lighthouse. As the island was not considered safe, the settlers and Captain Dubose's family moved on to Key West
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
to seek refuge. Later in January, Lt. George M. Bache, U.S. Navy, arrived from Key West with a small work party to fortify the lighthouse tower by boarding up the ground floor windows and reinforcing the door. On July 18, 1836, Captain Dubose left the lighthouse on leave to visit his family in Key West, leaving his assistant keeper, John W. B. Thompson, in charge, with an African-American assistant, Aaron Carter.
Five days later, on July 23, 1836, a band of Seminoles attacked the lighthouse. Thompson and Carter were able to make it into the lighthouse tower, although Thompson later reported that rifle balls passed through his clothes and hat, and that the Seminoles grabbed hold of the door as he was turning the key in the lock. Thompson exchanged rifle fire with the Seminoles from upper windows in the tower for the rest of the day, but after dark the Seminoles were able to approach the tower and set fire to the door and a boarded up window at ground level. Rifle balls had penetrated tanks in the bottom of the tower which held 225 gallons of lamp oil for the light, and the oil caught fire from the burning door. Thompson's clothing was soaked in the oil, and he and Carter retreated to the top of the tower, taking a keg of gunpowder, balls, and a rifle with them. The two men managed to cut away a part of the wooden stairway in the tower before being driven out of the top of the tower by the flames.
The flames coming up the interior of the tower were so bad that Thompson and Carter were forced to leave the lantern at the top and lie down on the 2 foot (0.6096 m) platform that ran around the outside of the lantern. Thompson's clothes were burning, and both he and Carter had been wounded by the Seminoles' rifle balls. The lighthouse lens and the glass panes of the lantern were shattering from the heat. Sure that he was going to die and wanting it to end quickly, Thompson threw the gunpowder keg down the inside of the tower. The keg exploded, but did not topple the tower. It dampened the fire briefly, but the fire soon was as fierce as ever. The fire did die down soon after, and Thompson then discovered that Carter had died from his wounds and from the fire.
The next day Thompson saw the Seminoles looting and then burning the other buildings at the lighthouse station. They apparently thought that Thompson was dead, as they had stopped firing at him. After the Seminoles left, Thompson remained trapped at the top of the tower. He had three rifle balls in each foot, and the stairway in the tower had been burned away. Later that day he saw an approaching ship. The United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Motto had heard the explosion of the gunpowder keg from twelve miles (19 km or 22 km) away and had come to investigate. The men from the ship were surprised to find Thompson alive. The sailors and marines from the Motto were unable to get Thompson down from the tower, and left the island for the night. The next day the men from the Motto and from another schooner, the Pee Dee, returned and devised a means of getting Thompson off of the tower by firing a ramrod tied to a small line up to him, which was then used to haul up a rope strong enough to lift two men to the top of the tower. Thompson was taken first to Key West, and then to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, to recover from his wounds.
Later history
In 1846 a contract was let to rebuild the lighthouse and the keeper's dwelling. The contractor was permitted to reuse the old bricks from the original tower and house. New bricks were also sent from MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The contract went to the low bidder at US$7,995. The lighthouse was completed and re-lit in April, 1847. The new keeper was Reason Duke, who had lived with his family on the Miami River until the Second Seminole War forced evacuation to Key Biscayne and then on to Key West. While in Key West his daughter Elizabeth had married James Dubose, son of John Dubose, the first keeper.
Temple Pent became the Cape Florida Light keeper in 1852. He was replaced by Robert R. Fletcher in 1854. Charles S. Barron became the keeper in 1855. The height of the tower was extended to 95 feet (29 m) in 1855, to extend the reach of the light beyond the off-shore reefs. That year the original lamp and lens system was replaced by a second order Fresnel lens brought to Cape Florida by Lt. Col. George Meade
George Meade
George Gordon Meade was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in coastal construction, including several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and Mexican-American War. During the American Civil War he served as a Union general, rising from...
of the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers
Corps of Topographical Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, was separately authorized on 4 July 1838, consisted only of officers, and was used for mapping and the design and construction of federal civil works such as lighthouses and other coastal fortifications and navigational routes. It included such...
. The extended tower with its new, more powerful light, was re-lit in March 1856.
Simeon Frow became the keeper in 1859. Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
sympathizers destroyed the lighthouse lamp and lens in 1861. The light was repaired in 1866, and Temple Pent, who had served as the lighthouse keeper in 1853-1854, was re-appointed keeper. He was replaced in 1868 by John Frow, son of Simeon Frow, who had served as the keeper just before the Civil War. John Frow continued as keeper until the Cape Florida Light was taken out of service in 1878. Even with its superior height and more powerful lamp and lens, the Cape Florida Light was still deemed to be insufficient for warning ships away from the offshore reefs, and it was decided to build an iron-pile lighthouse
Pile lighthouse
A pile lighthouse is a type of lighthouse used primarily in Florida, including on open reefs adjacent to the Florida Keys. Another place in which pile lights are prevalent is Australia....
on Fowey Rocks
Fowey Rocks Light
Fowey Rocks Light is located seven miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. The lighthouse was completed in 1878, replacing the Cape Florida lighthouse. It was automated on May 7, 1974 and is still in operation today. The structure is cast iron, with a screw-pile foundation, a platform and...
, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Cape Florida. When that was completed 1n 1878, the Cape Florida lighthouse was taken out of service. Keeper John Frow and his father Simeon became the first keepers at the new lighthouse at Fowey Rocks.
From 1888 to 1893, the Cape Florida lighthouse was leased by the United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
for a total of US$1.00 (20 cents per annum) to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club for use as its headquarters. It was listed as the southernmost yacht club in the United States, and the tallest in the world. After the lease expired, the yacht club moved to Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove, Florida
Coconut Grove is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami, Florida in Miami-Dade County, United States. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, South Dixie Highway and Rickenbacker Causeway to the north, and Biscayne Bay to...
, where it still exists.
In 1898, in response to the growing tension with Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
over Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
that resulted in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, the Cape Florida lighthouse was briefly made U.S. Signal Station Number Four, one of 36 along the U.S. East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
and Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast of the United States
The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...
from Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The Signal Stations were established to provide an early warning of the approach of the Spanish fleet.
The land around the lighthouse at the end of the 19th century belonged to Waters Davis. His parents had purchased the title to a Spanish land grant for the southern part of Key Biscayne soon after the United States acquired Florida from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and had sold the 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) the lighthouse was built on to the U.S. government in 1825. Although there had been competing claims on the land, Davis was able to resolve most of them and received a patent from the United States government for his land in 1898. In 1903 Davis bought the abandoned Cape Florida lighthouse from the United States Treasury for US$400.
Waters Davis sold his Key Biscayne property, including the lighthouse, to James Deering
James Deering
James Deering was an industrialist executive in the family Deering Harvester Company and subsequent International Harvester, a socialite, and an antiquities collector. He is known for his landmark Vizcaya estate, where he was an early 20th century resident on Biscayne Bay in the present day...
, International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
heir and owner of Villa Vizcaya
Villa Vizcaya
Vizcaya, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida...
in Miami, in 1913. One stipulation that Davis had made in the sale to Deering was that the Cape Florida lighthouse be restored. When Deering wrote to the U.S. government seeking specifications and guidelines for the lighthouse, government officials were taken aback by the request, wondering how a lighthouse could have passed into private hands. It was soon discovered that an Act of Congress and two Executive Orders, in 1847 and 1897, had reserved the island for the lighthouse and for military purposes. Patient legal work eventually convinced the U.S. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to agree to recognize Deering's ownership of the Cape Florida area of Key Biscayne, including the lighthouse.
Eye (cyclone)
The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area and typically 30–65 km in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the second most severe weather of a cyclone...
of the 1926 Miami Hurricane
1926 Miami Hurricane
The 1926 Miami hurricane was a Category 4 hurricane that devastated Miami in September 1926. The storm also caused significant damage in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. state of Alabama, and the Bahamas...
and the close passage of Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
in 1992.
The southern third of Key Biscayne, including the lighthouse, was bought by the State of Florida in 1966, and became what is now the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park occupies approximately the southern third of the island of Key Biscayne, at coordinates . The park is home to the Cape Florida Light, the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami...
. The lighthouse tower and keeper's house have been restored. In 1978 the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
installed an automated light in the tower as a navigational aide, particularly to help boaters find the Florida Channel at night.
Depictions in popular media
As a Miami landmark, the lighthouse was featured in several episodes of the television series Miami ViceMiami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
, most extensively during the two-part episode "Mirror Image" (first aired May 6, 1988). At that time, it had not yet been repainted and still had the exposed red brick exterior. This was not the lighthouse's first appearance in popular media, however. It was also featured briefly at the end of the 1945 John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
film They Were Expendable
They Were Expendable
They Were Expendable is a 1945 American war film directed by John Ford and starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne. The film is based on the book by William L. White, relating the story of the exploits of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a PT boat unit defending the Philippines against Japanese...
and as the backdrop of a grisly murder in the 1985 Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
thriller The Mean Season
The Mean Season
The Mean Season is a 1985 American thriller directed by Phillip Borsos. The film stars Kurt Russell, Mariel Hemingway, Richard Jordan, Richard Masur, Joe Pantoliano, and Andy García. The screenplay was written by Leon Piedmont, based on the novel In the Heat of the Summer by John Katzenbach...
. The lighthouse made its most recent television appearance in the third season of Burn Notice
Burn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
.