Cape St. George Lighthouse
St. George Island, Florida

***Sometime during the week ended October 22, 2005, the lighthouse toppled into the ocean. Click here to link to article concerning it's collapse.***

The first of three lighthouses was built on the west end of St. George Island, in 1833, by Winslow Lewis, builder of St. Marks lighthouse. The cost was $9,484. It was a 75 foot tower holding 11 lamps.

Since the light was on the west end of the island, and most ships approached from the east, they would run aground before the lighthouse could be seen over the sand dunes of the island.

In 1848, Edward Bowden erected a new tower, costing $6,700.  It was lit on November 16, 1848.  On August 22-23, 1851, a storm destroyed the tower, along with those at Cape San Blas, Dog Island, and St. Josephs Bay, as well as the towns of Apalachicola and St. Marks.

The third lighthouse was completed in 1852 by Emerson and Adams, who had bid $6,398.  Where the first tower had the first course of bricks laid on the sand, this tower had a foundation of pilings. This is the tower that still stands today and is the second oldest lighthouse on Florida's Gulf Coast.

The tower height is 70 feet with the focal plane being 77 feet above sea level.  It is located offshore on St. George Island and can only be seen by boat or plane.  In the past few years, there has been restoration work done on the foundation to bring the tower back upright and keep it from toppling into the sea.
 

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