Sombrero Key Light

Sombrero Key Light

Sombrero Key Light (from U.S. Coast Guard archives)
Location	near Key Vaca in Marathon, Florida
Coordinates	24°37′40.46″N 81°06′41.78″W / 24.6279056°N 81.1116056°W / 24.6279056; -81.1116056
Year first lit	1858
Automated	1960
Foundation	iron pilings with disks
Construction	cast iron
Tower shape	skeletal octagonal pyramid
Height	142 feet (43 m)
Original lens	first-order Fresnel lens
Range	White 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi), Red 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi)
Racon	"M" (— —)
Admiralty number	J2998
ARLHS number	USA-768
USCG number	3-1000[1]
Sombrero Key Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Offshore approx. 5.5 mi. SSW. of Marathon
Nearest city	Marathon, Florida
Coordinates	24°37′40.46″N 81°06′41.78″W / 24.6279056°N 81.1116056°W / 24.6279056; -81.1116056Coordinates: 24°37′40.46″N 81°06′41.78″W / 24.6279056°N 81.1116056°W / 24.6279056; -81.1116056
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	12000092[2]
Added to NRHP	March 9, 2012

Sombrero Key Light is located near Key Vaca in Marathon, Florida. The lighthouse is located on a mostly submerged reef. The name Sombrero Key goes back to the Spanish, and old charts show a small island at the spot, but by the later 19th Century the island had eroded away, with some parts of the reef exposed at low tide. As a result, the reef and the lighthouse have also been called Dry Banks.^[3]

The lighthouse was put in service in 1858, automated in 1960, and is still in operation. The foundation is iron pilings with disks, and the tower is a skeletal octagonal pyramid of cast iron. It is a 142-foot (43 m) tall brown painted tower. It has two platforms. The lower one, 15 feet (4.6 m) above the water, held water and fuel tanks, the generator (after the light was electrified), boat hoists and a workshop. The upper platform, 40 feet (12 m) above the water, held the quarters for the staff. The original lens, a first-order Fresnel lens, is now on display in the Key West Lighthouse Museum. The Sombrero Key Light is the tallest lighthouse in the Florida Keys, and was the last lighthouse constructed under the supervision of Lieutenant George Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers.

Keepers

Notes

Further reading

• McCarthy, Kevin M. 1990. Cape Florida Lighthouse. Florida Lighthouses. (pp. 41–44). University of Florida Press.

External links

• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Florida". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved June 29, 2008. 

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Lighthouses of Florida See also: List of operating lighthouses in Florida Alligator Reef Amelia Island Amelia Island North Range American Shoal Anclote Keys Cape Canaveral Cape Florida Cape San Blas Cape St. George Carysfort Reef Cedar Key Charlotte Harbor Cosgrove Shoal Crooked River Dames Point Dog Island Dry Tortugas Egmont Key Fowey Rocks Gasparilla Island Garden Key Hen and Chickens Shoal Hillsboro Inlet Jupiter Inlet Key West Molasses Reef Northwest Passage Pacific Reef Pensacola Ponce de Leon Inlet Port Boca Grande Pulaski Shoal Rebecca Shoal Sand Key Sanibel Island Smith Shoal Sombrero Key St. Augustine St Johns St. Johns River St. Joseph Point St. Marks Tennessee Reef Volusia Bar