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St. Marks, Florida
All Photos © Tim N. Touchton
Each photograph is available as an 8x10 for a cost of $ 12.00
plus $2.00 shipping. Check or money order only please.
I took this photograph on Sunday December 9, 2000 while in Tallahassee
to see xbxrx play a show while they were on their Christmas tour. A great
show
with many people, lots of merchandise sold and just a good time. Unfortunately
I
didn't get to the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge until just before they closed
the gates to
enter. It was almost dark but I did get to take several photographs of the
lighthouse
and of an alligator lying just beside the road. There are alligators all over
the place,
literally all over the place. When you walk to where I walked to take this
photograph
you have to look out for gators. As I walked along the waterfront and through
the high
grass I just knew that I'd walk up on a nesting alligator. This photograph
is the typical one
that everyone takes. It's out in a marsh area where there are fiddler crabs
everywhere and
depending on how much rain and the if it's high tide, you might get your feet
wet to take a
photograph from here in order to get the reflection. This is not a very good
photograph because
it was very cloudy and almost dark. I do plan on going back and spending most
of a day here
at the lighthouse and in the refuge itself, which is a wonderful place. I'll
most likely take a three
day weekend and visit this light again, along with the Crooked River Lighthouse
and head on
over to St. Augustine also. That would be a nice weekend trip, weather permitting.
The refuge
and lighthouse is located near Magnolia, Florida along the coast south of
Tallahassee. The lighthouse
is about 11 miles from Newport and about 7 miles into the St. Marks Wildlife
Refuge at the end
of the only road once to stop at the visitors center. Simply follow the road
south and at the end
is the lighthouse, you cannot miss it. There is a $4.00 fee to enter the Wildlife
Refuge and the gates
do close shortly after dark. The area around the lighthouse grounds are open
to the public but the
lighthouse itself is not open. It's very isolated here with no gas stations,
no restrooms, no food
shops or water fountains. There is a lot to explore in the area and waterfront
is simply peaceful.
Bring your own food and water, BUT keep your trash cleaned up.
Congress appropriated $20,000 for building a lighthouse at St. Marks, Florida
around 1828.
Winslow Lewis of Boston built the lighthouse for $11,765 and it was completed
in 1831. The
builders were Ben Beal and Jairus Thayer. The superintendent of "Lights
for the District of
Magnolia" refused to accept the lighthouse as it was completed in March
1830. He charged the
builders with fraud against the U.S. government and thus the lighthouse was
rebuilt. The walls in
the lighthouse were hollow, instead of solid, as so Calvin Knowlton rebuilt
the tower. It was
completed on January 29, 1831. Mr. Sam Crosby was appointed as the first lighthouse
keeper
on January 18, 1830 and started working in mid-February 1830.
The lighthouse no longer uses it's Fresnel Lens, but intead the Coast Guard
replaced it with a
2000 candle power flashing light that can be seen 15 miles away.
Established in: January 29, 1831
Tower height: 80 feet
Lens: Fourth-Order Fresnel Lens
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