A Brief History of the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station

Early Explorations

The first recorded visit by white men to the inlet was by Ponce De Leon in 1513. He may have been searching for one of his ships which had been caught by a strong current. The area was visited and explored several times by the Spanish, and by 1569 the area was known as Los Mosquitos. Native peoples hunted here, and explorers reported seeing weirs they had created to trap fish.

The British Period

Settlement around the inlet did not begin in earnest until the British obtained Florida from Spain in 1763. Numerous plantations were established by Dr. Andrew Turnbull, Peter Taylor, Richard Oswald and others. By 1774, oranges, rice, cotton, hides, lumber, naval stores, and valuable indigo dye were being shipped from these plantations through Mosquito Inlet. The British Royal Governor established a beacon on the north side of the inlet, with the beacon being little more than a bonfire kept burning atop a sand dune.

Times of Change

At the close of the War for American Independence, the British departed and Spain regained control of Florida. Commerce in the Mosquito Inlet area was drastically reduced until Spain handed Florida over to the United States in 1821. Sugar plantations replaced the British indigo plantations and trade through the inlet began to increase.

In 1830, the owners of 38 plantations petitioned Congress for a light at Mosquito Inlet, and in 1834 Congress approved $11,000 for its construction. This lighthouse was completed in 1835 and was located on the south side of the inlet, possibly because most of the petitioners were from the New Smyrna area. The tower was round, made of brick, and stood 45 feet high. The lamp was never lit, due to the government's failure to order any fuel oil. The tower was undoubtedly built too close to the water, and a storm soon undermined the foundation. In December 1835, the lighthouse was further damaged when the Seminole Indians, led by Wildcat, raided New Smyrna, burning homes and plantations. In April, 1836, the tower finally toppled into the sea.

Mosquito Inlet was used by troop transports and supply ships sent to Fort New Smyrna and other outposts along the Indian River during the Second Seminole War (1835-42). During the Civil War (1861-65), Mosquito Inlet served as a hiding place and staging area for Confederate blockade runners, and later, during Prohibition, rum runners used it for staging their own illegal commerce.

During the Spanish American War (1898), American sympathizers mounted supply and gun-running trips called filibusters to Cuba, and ships depended on the lights along the Florida coast. In a famous 1897 incident, the steam tug Commodore sank in the ocean off the Daytona Beach area. Among the survivors was American author Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage), whose account of his harrowing experience became the basis of his story "The Open Boat." In it, he describes the hope he and his companions felt when they saw the beacon at Mosquito Inlet.

The Present Tower

Mosquito Inlet's treacherous waters and shifting sands claimed many ships. In 1882 and 1883, Congress approved funds to construct the present light station, partly to protect shipping and partly because a light was needed somewhere between St. Augustine and Cape Canaveral. On November 1, 1887, the tower was lit, and Principal Keeper William Rowlinski began his duties.

The tower's original beacon was a first-order, fixed Fresnel ("fre-NEL") lens. The lamp inside the lens was fueled by kerosene, and could be seen 18 nautical miles away. This original lens is currently being restored for display at the light station. In 1926, Mosquito Inlet was renamed Ponce De Leon Inlet, a change inspired, perhaps, by the Florida land boom and a desire to make the area sound more attractive. In 1933 the tower at Ponce Inlet was electrified, and a third-order, rotating and flashing Fresnel lens was installed.

Modern Times

In 1935-39, the US Lighthouse Service was absorbed into the Coast Guard, which then became responsible for all aids to navigation, including the light at Ponce Inlet. During World War II, the lighthouse families were evacuated, and the light station keepers' homes became barracks. The beacon was dimmed during the war, and the tower was used as a lookout for enemy ships and ships in distress off the Florida coast.

In 1970, the Coast Guard decommissioned the light and installed a beacon on the south side of the inlet. In 1972, the light station was deeded to the Town of Ponce Inlet and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Coast Guard reactivated the light in 1982, and the tower was lit with a modern 24-inch aerobeacon that flashed every 10 seconds, rotated 190 degrees and could be seen for a range of 16 nautical miles.

In 2004, the staff of the Light Station completed the restoration of the 1933 third order Fresnel lens. This lens has been reinstalled in the tower, and the beacon is now a Private Aid to Navigation. The characteristic or flash pattern of this rotating light is a .5 second flash followed by a 2 second eclipse repeated 6 times within 15 seconds and followed by a 15 second eclipse. (An eclipse is a period of darkness.)

The Ponce De Leon Inlet Light Station is the finest and most complete example of an historic light station in the country and is a National Historic Landmark.

See the History page for a more detailed look at our past.