Lighthouse Tower

As you walk through the white picket fence, built to keep wild hogs out of the light station grounds, the 175 foot lighthouse tower stands to your right. The tower, one of the tallest in the country, as well as the tallest lighthouse in Florida, sits atop a 12 foot-deep brick foundation which is 45 feet in diameter. As you step up the granite stairs and through the two sets of heavy wooden doors, observe the brick work on the outside of the tower. Constructed of more than one and a quarter million bricks shipped from New York and Baltimore, the tower took more than four years to build. The masonry was considered to be of such fine workmanship that the tower was “red-washed” instead of painted so that its beauty would not be diminished. Two one-inch-thick cracks are visible along the west side of the tower, opposite the entrance, running from the upper windows to the ground. It is thought that the cracks were caused by an earthquake that struck Charleston, SC in 1886 and felt as far south as Key West, FL.

As you enter the tower, look down to see the white and black Italian marble tiles that make up the floor of the ground level. In the center of the floor is a round pit known as the weight well. This was intended to catch tools and other items falling from the watch room, 194 steps above. The cracks in the marble floor around the well are evidence that not every falling object hit its mark. At the base of the tower, the walls are 8 feet thick and the tower itself is 32 feet in diameter. The tower tapers toward the top, where the walls thin to 2 feet, and the diameter is only 14 feet. The walls consist of an inner and outer brick wall connected by interstitial brick walls, similar to the spokes of a wheel. As the outer wall tapers, the inner wall remains a constant 12 feet in diameter.

The cast iron stairway to the top of the tower ascends clockwise, with a landing every 21 steps. Of course, every tool or supply the lighthouse keepers needed for the lens had to be carried up the 203 steps to the service room, including five gallon cans of mineral oil, or kerosene, which weigh almost 45 pounds. The stairs and railings are original. There are three windows each on the east and west sides of the tower. At the service room level there are four.

The service room is the first room you will come to as you make your way up the tower stairs. This room held the lighthouse keepers' equipment, and a green wooden cabinet still sits here. Up the steps from the service room is the watch room. The exterior of this room is cast iron, as opposed to the red brick on the rest of the tower. Open the heavy iron watch room door and step out on to the gallery deck.

On a clear day you can take in a breathtaking view of Daytona Beach to the north, New Smyrna Beach to the south, the Halifax River to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Imagine the contrast between what we see today from the top of the tower and what it must have been like for William Rowlinski, the light station's first Principle Keeper. In 1887 the area was remote and wild. The official way to get to this side of the Inlet was on a boat from New Smyrna.

If you look up when you’re on the gallery deck, you can see the lantern deck and the current beacon. Access to the lantern deck is restricted because the light house is listed as a functioning private aid to navigation. The lantern deck, made of cast iron, is topped by an iron platform that supports the light station's original third order Fresnel lens which was restored by the museum's Fresnel Lens Restoration Team and reinstalled in 2004. The lens rotates to create its signature characteristic of six flashes within 15 seconds followed by a 15 second eclipse or period of darkness. At night, this unique flash pattern allows ships to know exactly which lighthouse they are passing. The original lens, a first order Fresnel lens made in 1867 by Barbier and Fenestre in Paris, is currently on display in the Lens Exhibit Building along several other lenses including the rotating first order Fresnel lens originally installed in the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.