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Unfortunately, Lighthouse Digest has been forced to add three more of Florida’s Reef Lighthouses to its Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses. Added to the list are the American Shoal Lighthouse, the Sombrero Key Lighthouse, and the Alligator Reef Lighthouse.
All of these lighthouses, including the Carysfort Reef Lighthouse and the Sand Key Lighthouse, which had been previously placed on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses, have severe corrosion and have repeatedly been attacked by vandals.
Agreeing with our assessment, The Florida Trust For Historic Preservation has added the lighthouses to their list of the Eleven Most Endangered Historic Properties in Florida.
At the time that most of these skeletal style structures were built, they were among the tallest iron structures in the world. They were designed to let the winds and waves, especially from hurricanes, to pass through and under the open legs of the lighthouses. Additionally, if these structures are allowed to collapse on the third largest living reef in the world it would cause severe damage to the reef.
This story appeared in the
Sep/Oct 2015 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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