Hillsboro Inlet Light
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The Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse (from US Coast Guard archives) |
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Location: | north side of Hillsboro Inlet |
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Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
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Foundation: | iron piling |
Construction: | iron |
Year first lit: | 1907 |
Automated: | 1974 |
Tower shape: | octagonal skeletal with cylinder |
Height: | 136 feet |
Original lens: | second-order bivalve Fresnel lens |
Range: | 28 nm |
Characteristic: | White, Flashing every 20 seconds |
Hillsboro Inlet Light is located on the north side of Hillsboro Inlet, midway between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, in Pompano Beach, Florida. The light marks the northern limit of the Florida Reef, an underwater coral formation on the lower east coast of the state. In the second half of the 20th century, this inlet became an increasingly busy waterway. Hillsboro Inlet Light is considered one of the most powerful lights in the Southern United States. It was built in 1907.
The octagonal iron pyramidal tower of the light, first displayed at the 1904 Exposition in St. Louis, has a metal cylinder housing the stairs. Its second-order Fresnel lens emits a light measuring 5.5 megacandela and is placed 136 feet (41 m) above sea level. Now automated, the light acts both as a coastal navigational aide and as a support to local water traffic.
[edit] References
- Crompton, Samuel Willard. "The Lighthouse Book." Barnes and Noble Books, New York, 1999. ISBN 0-7607-1135-6.
- U.S. Coast Guard Historic Light Station Information - accessed December 30, 2005
[edit] External links
- The Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society - Lighthouse information and 2 minute video with aerial view, internal views and description of lens.