History of Mosquito Inlet and the First Lighthouse

The inlet where the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse stands today has long been known as one of the most treacherous in the southeast. Since 1565, when the entire French fleet of Admiral Jean Ribault was wrecked by a hurricane in the vicinity of this Inlet, many ships have been lost here. The Inlet was explored by Captain Antonio de Prado in 1569 and named "los Mosquitos" because of the large number of insects. Captain Álvaro Mexía charted the inlet in 1605, but, except for the planting of a few orange groves, the Spanish never settled the area.

When Great Britain gained the Province of Florida in 1763, plantations were settled in this area, and commerce became so great that the colonial government maintained a "beacon" or daymark at the entrance to Mosquito Inlet. Spain regained the colony in 1784, but the plantations languished.

After Florida passed to the control of the United States in 1821, the plantations revived, and the need for a lighthouse at this dangerous inlet was recognized as early as 1822. However, it was not until June 30, 1834, that Congress appropriated $11,000 for the construction of the lighthouse.

John Rodman, Collector of Customs for St. Augustine, chose a site on a 12-foot high dune on the south side of the Inlet, and Winslow Lewis completed the forty-five foot tall brick tower by February, 1835, at a cost of $7,494, including the installation of 15 of his lamps with 16-inch silvered, parabolic reflectors. William H. Williams, a local pilot, captain, and son of a prominent local plantation owner, was selected as the lighthouse keeper, and he moved into the new keeper's quarters. However, oil for the lighthouse never arrived, and the lamps were never lit.

In October, 1835, a hurricane struck, washing away the keeper's quarters and undermining the foundations of the lighthouse enough to cause it to lean. Keeper Williams and his family abandoned the area and moved back to his father's plantation. In an attack by Seminole Indians on December 26, 1835, ignited the Second Seminole War in Florida. The Indians climbed the lighthouse, smashed all the glass in the lantern, set fire to the wooden stairs, and absconded with the lamp reflectors. The leader, Coácoochee, wore one as a headdress at the Battle of Dunlawton three weeks later. The Indians won the battle, and the entire area was abandoned. No one could come to repair the leaning lighthouse, and in April, 1836, it finally toppled into the sea. It would be more than 50 years before Mosquito Inlet would get another lighthouse.