The Lighthouse

We spent a lovely afternoon visiting the St. Augustine Lighthouse on Anastasia Island, Florida. It was built in 1874. It was saved from destruction by a group of 15 ladies in 1980 and is now on the National Registers of Historic places. If you ever get a chance to visit this historic site you should. Especially if you've already made a trip to spend the day at the oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine.

I took only the picture of the tower itself because the house at the bottom had a huge blue tarp on its pretty red tin roof. I think they must have just finished painting the tower as it really looked beautiful.

You have access to the top of the tower, as you can see from the first picture.

The second picture is a shot of the stairway leading to the top. Have you ever seen this episode of TAPS http://www.scifi.com/ghosthunters/episodes/episodes.php?seas=2&ep=0219&act=1 ? How cool is that! Of course I didn't get a shot of any ghost in my picture of the stairwell. Maybe one day I'll take one of their night tours.

Once you climb up the flight of stairs, which get more narrow as you approach the top, you come out to the outside landing. The only thing between you and the ground below is a rail. Oh my! If you don't like heights this is not a place you want to be.

Will you look at that view! The weather was beautiful, a lovely 72! (Today it is 20 degrees cooler, that's Florida!) There was no humidity, rarely is in winter, and the breeze was blowing.  

From the other side of the tower is the view of the city of St. Augustine. Yep, Florida is flat. Not a hill in site. But I love it. They say that it allows you see how far your dreams can take you because the land is endless for miles and miles.

I thought this was a fun picture! This is an actual 2 man wrench that the lighthouse keepers used. Behind it is an old map of the area.

The lighthouse keepers use to have to fill these huge buckets of melted lard and then take them up the flight of stairs to the top. This was the way that they fueled the light originally. The buckets themselves are heavy! I couldn't begin to imagine having to go up the stairs with them. (Thank goodness there are landings as you ascend to the top. I can see those poor original keepers needing to rest on the way up!)

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years. I'm glad it's now 2009!

If you get a chance hop on over to Melanie's blog and wish her a happy Blogaversary. She is celebrating her 1 year anniversary as an illustrator for Gina K Designs. And she is giving a way lots of fun goodies! http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/2009/01/happy-new-year-and-blogaversary-to-me.html

Comments

[Jackie]

Thank you so much for posting those photos - I miss my hometown :-(. I hope you stayed till dark to see the Nights of Lights downtown, it's always so beautiful with all of the buildings trimmed in white lights. I did see that episode of Ghost Hunters, it was awesome! Happy New Year to you and your family.

[Melanie Muenchinger]

Thanks Asela! :) I esp love the sspiral staircase pic!!

[Conniecrafter]

Looks like a really fun day out and temps in the 70's sounds wonderful too! Thanks for sharing!

[Irene]

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. I hope to be able to take a vacation there the third week of August. I love the lighthouse. It's been so cold here in Ohio.

[Michelle #2068]

I love ghost hunters. And i love that episode. What a great lighthouse. And it looks incredible during the day. LOL

[Jenny Gropp]

I have climbed those spiral stairs --- love St. Augustine. Thx for sharing the pics!