HISTORY & HERITAGE
St. Marks Lighthouse
Wakulla County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast
The lighthouse at the end of Lighthouse Road, standing where the St. Marks River meets Apalachee Bay.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Congress paid for the first tower in 1828 and Winslow Lewis finished it in March 1830. The work was disputed, so Calvin Knowlton rebuilt it in 1831. Erosion forced the whole thing to be moved and rebuilt again in 1842, which is the tower standing today. It was raised ten feet in 1883 to a focal plane of eighty-two feet above the sea. During the Civil War the lighting apparatus was taken out so it could not guide the Union blockade, and a federal fleet of sixteen ships shelled this area in March 1865. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was lit on January 8, 1867, after the repairs. That lens came out in November 2014 for preservation and went to Ponce Inlet; a replica went in during 2019 and is lit seasonally. The light was automated in 1960 and went dark in 2016 when the Coast Guard pulled its beacon. The keeper's quarters are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from eleven until three. The tower itself is not open for climbing
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