Sunday, June 26, 2005

Two Of A Kind


You might be surprised to learn that Gasparilla Island has not one but two lighthouses. The first one you come to on the main road is just a simple tower, and was built in 1927 (or maybe that's the street number written in iron letters over the door?). It's in an odd location, as it's along the beach a couple miles up from the point. This one is called the Rear Range Lighthouse.

The second, older lighthouse is much more attractive, even though it's surrounded by a chainlink fence to keep the undesirables out. When someone talks about the Boca Grande Lighthouse, this is the light they usually mean. This one sits on the southernmost point of the island, and has been here for over one hundred years helping ships safely enter Charlotte Harbor.

2 comments:

  1. looks more like a beach home. has anyone ever lived there?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was actually lived in by the light keeper. What you don't see in the picture is the assistant light keeper's house, which is to the left of the picture. It looks exactly like the lighthouse, only without the beacon on the top.

    If you aren't familiar with this lighthouse, you wouldn't notice the missing green shutters on either side of the windows. They were damaged in Hurricane Charley and haven't been replaced yet.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are greatly appreciated, but replies aren't guaranteed...