St. Augustine Lighthouse

Completed in 1874 on Anastasia Island, the St. Augustine Lighthouse replaced Spanish colonial watchtowers that had guided ships into the harbor for centuries. Its history includes real tragedy: keeper Joseph Andreu fell 60 feet to his death in 1859 after the scaffolding he was whitewashing the tower from collapsed, and on July 10, 1873, two of construction supervisor Hezekiah Pittee's children, Eliza and Mary, drowned when the supply cart they were playing on toppled into the water; historians believe a third child, an unnamed young Black girl, died in the same accident, though period newspaper reports never recorded her name. Visitors and staff describe shadows moving and voices talking near the top of the tower, and the spirits of former keepers Joseph Andreu, William Harn, and Peter Rasmussen are all said to still watch over the light.