Founding of the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association

June is always a special month at the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse. Following Memorial Day weekend brings extended hours, increased visitation, and a time for everyone to reflect on the founding of the Ponce De Leon Lighthouse Association, which has maintained and operated the lighthouse and museum for over 50 years.

The Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse served as an active aid-to-navigation maintained and operated by the US Lighthouse Establishment/Service (USLHE/USLHS) from 1887 until 1939 and by the US Coast Guard (USCG) from 1939 until 1970. Although considered a modern marvel at the time of its completion, the lighthouse and its historic Fresnel lens optic had been rendered all but obsolete by the late 1960s due to ongoing advances in navigational technology.

In 1970, the decision was made to decommission the lighthouse and declare the site surplus property. A group of local residents, concerned about the light station's potential demolition, petitioned the Town of Ponce Inlet to pursue ownership of the historic property in an effort to save it. The Town agreed to this request with one stipulation, that a non-profit organization be formed to assume full responsibility for the site’s maintenance and operation at no cost to the municipality.

Ownership of the light station was officially transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Town of the Ponce Inlet on June 2, 1972. Management of the historic site was assumed by the newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association two weeks later. 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of this important date in the light station's history, which has been celebrated for the past year.

The Coast Guard decided to reclassify the recently automated Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse as an unmanned navigational aid in 1953 and turn responsibility for the beacon’s operation over to the Aids to Navigation (ATON) team attached to the Coast Guard station in New Smyrna Beach. Lack of proper maintenance once afforded by former resident personnel coupled with the relentless impact of the harsh coastal climate exacted a hefty toll on the historic light station which quickly fell into disrepair. By the late 1960s, the once spotless facility which had served as a source of pride for so many over the years had become a derelict site in a state of advanced deterioration.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse continued to operate as an active unmanned aid-to-navigation under these conditions until 1970, when a new pole-mounted light was erected on the Coast Guard station located on the south side of the inlet facilitated its decommissioning. Abandoned in 1970, the decommissioned light station was subjected to a wide range of destructive forces including wind and weather, vandalism, theft, and more. Damages incurred during this time included fires lit in the tower’s counter-weight well, vagrants breaking into the keeper’s dwellings, stolen artifacts, thieves burning down the oil storage building in an effort to steal its copper roof, and pieces of the rusted tower iron being thrown into the keeper dwellings far below. The site was listed as surplus property by the Department of the Interior in 1971 in accordance with Executive Order 11508 which directed all federal agencies “to divest themselves of all properties no longer needed for their programs so that such properties could be put to uses that better served the public.” Word began to circulate throughout the community that plans to demolish the abandoned light station were also being discussed.

Alarmed by the Light Station’s rapid deterioration and rumors of impending destruction, a group of concerned Ponce Inlet residents stepped forward to urge the newly incorporated Town of Ponce Inlet to acquire the property in an effort to save it. The Town agreed to the request with one major stipulation; a non-profit organization must be formed to assume full responsibility for the restoration, preservation, and management of the site at little or no cost to the municipality. 

Ownership of the lighthouse reservation was officially transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Town of Ponce Inlet on June 2, 1972 and the nonprofit Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association assumed responsibility for the facility almost immediately.

The Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association was officially incorporated on June 20, 1972, less than three weeks after ownership of the light station was transferred to the Town of Ponce Inlet. The Association selected seven of its most dedicated founding members to serve on the organization’s first Board of Directors (later renamed the Board of Trustees) including Irene B. Kline, Ayers Davies, Norma W. Ellwood, Candler H. Poole, Jr., Gladys E. Davis, Richard B. Dygert, James Cain, Barbara Witt, Dean Richardson, and Virginia Ann Caneer Potts who was elected to serve as the Board’s first President. This all-volunteer governing body composed entirely of Ponce Inlet residents wasted little time getting to work.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association is proud to be financially self-sufficient and is currently funded almost exclusively in-house through daily museum admission and merchandise sales, annual membership dues, and private donations. As a valued member of the Association, your continued support is vital to the organization’s continued success. The Preservation Association sincerely thanks you for your support which has allowed us to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary. We look forward to preserving and disseminating the maritime and social history of this National Historic Landmark for many more years to come.