Ponce de Leon Inlet Light

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**Ponce de Leon Inlet Light**
The Mosquito Inlet Light, later known as the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light.
Location:	Ponce de Leon Inlet, Ponce Inlet, Florida, south of Daytona Beach, Florida
Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS)	29°04′49″N, 80°55′41″W
Foundation:	brick
Construction:	brick
Year first lit:	1887
Deactivated:	1970; reactivated, 1982
Automated:	1953
Tower shape:	conical tower
Height:	175 feet
Original lens:	first order Fresnel lens
Range:	20 miles
Characteristic:	fixed light (original)

The first real lighthouse for what is now the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light was erected near the Mosquito Inlet in 1835. (During the time that Florida was under British control, a beacon and pilot station had been maintained at the inlet.) Unfortunately, the oil for the lamp was never delivered, and soon after the tower was completed a strong storm washed much of the sand from around the base of the tower, weakening it. The Second Seminole War had started, and in December of 1835 Seminole Indians attacked the lighthouse, smashing all the glass in the lantern and setting fire to its wooden stairs. The area was abandoned. The war prevented repairs from being made to the tower, and it collapsed the next year.

There were many shipwrecks along the coast near the Mosquito Inlet, but it was not until 1883 that another effort was made to place a light there. The new lighthouse was designed by Francis Hopkinson Smith, with construction supervised by Orville E. Babcock until his death by drowning in the Mosquito Inlet. The tower was completed and the lamp lit in 1887.

The original lamp burned kerosene. In 1909 it was replaced with an incandescent oil vapor lamp. In 1909 the fixed first-order Fresnel lens was replaced with a revolving first-order lens. In 1927 a generator was installed to provide electricity in the keeper's dwelling and to pump water, replacing the windmill pump. The light was electrified in 1933 with a 500-watt lamp. The first-order lens was replaced with a third-order revolving lens at the same time.

In 1927 the town of Mosquito Inlet changed its name to Ponce de Leon Inlet (later shortened to Ponce Inlet. There was precedent for the change. Mosquito County had long before become Orange County, and the Mosquito River had become the Halifax River. Only the Mosquito Lagoon has kept its old name.

The light was deactivated in 1970, and the Coast Guard established a beacon at New Smyrna Beach. The property was turned over to the town of Ponce Inlet in 1972. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places that same year. The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association was founded to assist the town with the restoration and management of the light station. In 1982 the light was restored to active service, primarily because highrise buildings were threatening to obscure the beacon in New Smyrna Beach.

The lighthouse and keeper's dwelling have been restored, and are a museum open to the public. The original 1867 "Barbier et Fenestre" fixed lens (installed 1887), 1904 Barbier Benard et Turenne, revolving, third order lens (installed 1933), and 1860 "Henry Lepaute" revolving lens used at Cape Canaveral Light Station are all on display at the museum.

In 1897 Stephen Crane was en route to cover the Cuban Revolution when the ship he was on, the Commodore, sank. Crane escaped in a small dinghy with several crewmen. They eventually sighted and steered for the Mosquito Inlet Light. Crane used this experience in his short story, The Open Boat.