The Cape Canaveral Light is a historic

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

on the east coast of the U.S. state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The light was established in 1848 to warn ships of the dangerous

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

that lie off its coast. It is located inside the

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

and managed by the

Space Launch Delta 45 The Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45) is a unit of the United States Space Force. The Space Launch Delta 45 is assigned to Space Systems Command and headquartered at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The wing also controls Cape Canaveral Space Fo ...

of the U.S. Space Force with the assistance of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. It is the only fully operational lighthouse owned by the United States Space Force. The current lighthouse tower was first erected and lit in 1868 then relocated further inland between 1893 and 1894. It was originally equipped with a first-order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

that was automated in 1967 and then retired from the tower in 1993.(2003-01-03)
"Inventory of Historic Light Stations, Florida Lighthouses - Cape Canaveral Light"
. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2012-11-13.

History

The Cape Canaveral lighthouse was erected to warn mariners of the outlying

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

s off its coast. Broken ground and shoals extend northward and northeastward of the lighthouse terminating in the Hetzel and Ohio shoals, which have a depth of and respectively. Hetzel Shoal is located about NE of the lighthouse and Ohio Shoals about southward of Hetzel. In a heavy sea these shoals are marked by breakers, but with smooth sea there is nothing to indicate their locality.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ( USC&GS; known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836, and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 until 1878) was the first scientific agency of the Federal government of the United State ...

(1922)
"U.S. Coast Pilot: Atlantic Coast Section D"
pg. 122. Government Printing Office, Washington. The land is usually not visible from off these outer shoals. Located closer to the land are the Chester, Bull and Southeast shoals, which are about off the coast of the cape.Office of the Lighthouse Board (1900)
"List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic Coast of the United States, 1900"
pp. 160-161. Government Printing Office, Washington.

First lighthouse

The current Cape Canaveral Light is not the first lighthouse constructed on

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

. On May 21, 1838, the building of the first lighthouse at the cape was requested by Florida territorial delegate Charles Downing. Nathaniel Scobie was appointed as the first

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

and oversaw the construction of the lighthouse. The tall white conical brick tower and keeper's dwelling were completed in January 1848 at the cost of $13,300. Its light consisted of 15

Lewis lamp Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

s powered by

whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...

, each with a 21-inch (530 mm) reflector."Img_0338 (Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Florida heritage marker)"
. Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved on 2012-11-08. The lamps were set on a chandelier rotated via

clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse keeper Mills Burnham

During the

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

scare, Scobie abandoned the lighthouse, and refused to return to his post."Cape Canaveral, FL"
Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved on 2012-11-08. Captain Mills Olcott Burnham (b. September 8, 1817) was appointed as the next lighthouse keeper in July 1853. Along with his position, Burnham was given of land as part of the Florida

Armed Occupation Act The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 () was passed as an incentive to grow the population of Florida. The Act granted of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South (an east–west line about north of Palatka a ...

of 1842, a legislation passed to populate the state."P1010026 (Photo Gallery - Brevard Museum Collection)"
. Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved on 2012-11-13. Sailors heavily criticized the white brick lighthouse with complaints that the light was too weak and too low to be seen before ships were on the reefs near the cape.

Second lighthouse

In 1860, the government approved the construction of a new lighthouse. However, the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

stopped the work on the new tower. The lamps and mechanism of the lighthouse were removed from the tower by Burnham and buried in his orange grove to protect them from Federal raids. At the end of the war, construction resumed on the lighthouse. The chosen replacement tower was made with

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

plate designed so that it can be disassembled and moved to a new location at a minimal cost, in case the encroaching sea started threatening the lighthouse. The conical tower was lined inside by bricks for stability and insulation. It was situated about from the location of the first tower. The new all-white lighthouse tower was completed in 1868, receiving a first-order

made by Henry-Lepaute and Company of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that was first lit on May 10, 1868. The lower three levels of the tower served as the living quarters for the keepers and his assistants complete with kitchen, living room and bedrooms. The tower was designed to withstand flooding from

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s that accompany strong

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

s by making the entrance to the tower on the third floor, accessible by an outdoor stairway (the ground level door was later added in the 1930s). This was tested in 1871 when a strong storm submerged the station. The lighthouse and its keepers survived but the lamp oil and their drinking water were spoiled by the flood. Cape Canaveral Lighthouse 1890s

The white lighthouse tower was changed to its signature three black bands and three white bands in 1873, with the lantern room remaining white. Soon after, the iron tower became unbearable to the keepers under the Florida sun and humidity. They built and stayed in makeshift dwellings on the grounds of the lighthouse rather than stay in the oven-like tower. In 1876, funds in the amount of $12,000 were appropriated to construct permanent dwellings for the keepers.

Relocating the lighthouse

By the 1880s, shoreline erosion was feared to be threatening the lighthouse, and the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

appropriated funds to move the lighthouse inland. Initial work to move the tower was started in October 1893. A temporary square black skeletal pyramidal lighthouse was erected to keep that section of the sea lit during the move. The tower had a 4th-order lamp with a focal height of and a visibility of . The old tower (1848), which stood next to the new tower for about two decades, was blown up and the rubble was used to prepare a foundation for the lighthouse at the new location. The cast iron tower was dismantled, moved by a tram pulled by mules, and reassembled at the new location about a mile westward together with the keepers' houses. The move took nine months, and the lighthouse was relit at its new location on July 25, 1894. The 1900 Atlantic List of Lights indicated the color of the lantern room, which was probably painted during the move, as black. Cape Canaveral Light Station 1910

William H. Peck William Henry Peck (December 30, 1830 – February 4, 1892) was a writer from the Southern United States. Biography Peck was born in the Sand Hill section of Richmond County, Georgia, part of Augusta. He was the son of Samuel Hopkins Peck, a m ...

wrote about his meeting with lighthouse keeper Mills Burnham of Cape Canaveral in the ''Florida Star'' newspaper in 1887. In 1931, the mechanical clockwork of the tower that was turned by descending weights and needed winding every hour or two was modernized and replaced by an electric motor.

Transition into a military facility

President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

signed the legislation titled Public Law 60 on May 11, 1949, that established Cape Canaveral as the Joint Long Range Proving Ground, a site for

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

testing by the military. By this time, several small communities had developed in

, two of which lies near the lighthouse: De Soto Beach to its north, which was located in the vicinity of

Launch Complex 36 Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) is a launch complex located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Located south of the Missile Row launch range, the complex originally consisted of two pads—designated LC-36A and LC-36B—to support th ...

and Stinkmore to the south, located near Launch Complexes 17 and 5.Lethbridge, Cliff
"The History of Cape Canaveral Chapter 1"
Spaceline.org. Retrieved on 2012-11-12. When rockets began launching from the Cape in the early 1950s, all its residents, except the lighthouse keepers, were relocated to other areas. In 1960, the need for a keeper to live nearby was eliminated with the automation of the light."Historic Light Station Information & Photography - Florida"
United States Coast Guard. Retrieved on 2012-11-13. The keeper's homes were later demolished leaving only the brick oil house in the vicinity of the lighthouse. After it was discovered that strong vibrations that accompany launches were loosening the

prism PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known by the SIGAD . PRISM collects stored internet ...

s of the first-order Fresnel lens, it was finally removed in 1993 and sent to the lighthouse museum of the

Ponce de Leon Inlet Light The Ponce de Leon Inlet Light is a lighthouse and museum located at Ponce de León Inlet in Central Florida. At in height, it is the tallest lighthouse in the state and one of the tallest in the United States (the Cape Hatteras Light in North ...

for restoration and display. The light was replaced by a

DCB-224 An aerobeacon is a light assembly used to create a fixed or flashing signal visible over long distances. It consists of a high intensity electric lamp mounted with a focusing device in a cylindrical housing, which usually is rotated on a vertical ...

, a high-power

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely luminosity, bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a part ...

that increased its range to . Ponce Inlet Lighthouse lenses tall pano01

Ownership of the lighthouse was transferred by the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

on December 14, 2000. In 2002, the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation was formed and a memorandum of agreement was signed with the USAF.

Head lighthouse keepers

The following is the list of head

s that served the station: * Nathaniel C. Scobie 1848 – 1850 * Ora Carpenter 1850 – 1853 * Mills O. Burnham 1853 – 1886 * George M. Quarterman 1886 – 1887 * James M. Knight 1887 – 1893 * John L. Stuck 1893 – 1904 * Clinton P. Honeywell 1904 – 1930 * Oscar F. Quarterman 1930 – 1939 * A. Davis 1939 – at least 1941

Restoration

Since toxic lead paint was used to paint the lighthouse, a restoration project from 1995 to 1996

sandblasted Sandblasting, sometimes known as abrasive blasting, is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface or remove sur ...

the harmful paint off. The original

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

lantern was also replaced with a

galvanized steel Galvanization ( also spelled galvanisation) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are coated by submerging them in a bath of ...

lantern and was made into a lighthouse

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

at the grounds of the

Air Force Space and Missile Museum The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum (formerly the Air Force Space and Missile Museum) is located at Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It includes artifacts from the early American space program and includes an ou ...

at Launch Complex 26 inside the

. A plaque mounted on a

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

made from bricks of the 1848 lighthouse, was built to commemorate its dedication in October 1997.(2012)
"Lighthouse Gazebo"
. Air Force Space and Missile Museum. Retrieved on 2012-11-10. In 2003, the oil house located in front of the ground floor door was restored to its original (1890s) state. Strong winds had damaged the roof in the 1970s. A window that was added to the brick structure in the early 1900s was also covered up during restoration. During the 2006-2007 project, the structure was repainted using modern materials. The original copper lantern was repaired and restored to the lighthouse. The displaced galvanized steel lantern took its place at the lighthouse gazebo leaving just the original copper vent ball on its top. Ground sample tests taken in 2008 showed a very high level of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

in the soil around the tower, and visitors were kept away from the lighthouse for some time.

The lighthouse today

The lighthouse is open to public visitors and previously was a part of the Air Force Space and Missile Museum public tour. However, as of 2013 due to sequestration the

no longer offers a tour of the area. Currently, those seeking to visit the lighthouse, and nearby museum should book touring by the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. Visitors may only ascend to the fifth floor of the lighthouse as the remaining floors have been deemed as a safety liability by the Space Force and require special access to ascend. The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation and volunteers are instrumental in the restoration projects and in interpreting the lighthouse history. Future plans of the foundation includes the restoration of the three keeper's cottages for multipurpose use."Plans & Status"
. Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved on 2012-11-10.

References

External links

Air Force Space & Missile Museum
for information about tours to the lighthouse
Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation

Canaveral Tours
Visit the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse via scheduled tour. Reservations must be made in advance

* {{authority control Transportation buildings and structures in Brevard County, Florida Cape Canaveral Space Force Station History of Brevard County, Florida Lighthouses completed in 1848 Lighthouses completed in 1868 Lighthouses in Florida Relocated buildings and structures in Florida Tourist attractions in Brevard County, Florida 1848 establishments in Florida