St. Augustine Lighthouse
Completed in 1874 on Anastasia Island, the St. Augustine Lighthouse rose 165 feet above the inlet, its black-and-white spiral tower built under construction superintendent Hezekiah Pittee. On July 10, 1873, his daughters and another worker's child rode an iron supply rail car down toward the water when a missing stop-board sent it plunging into Salt Run, drowning three of the four girls; only young Carrie survived.
Years later keeper Joseph Andreu fell to his death while painting the tower, and his wife Maria took over the light. Since the mid-twentieth century, keepers, craftsmen, and visitors have reported children's laughter in the empty tower, shoelaces tied together on the staircase, and a girl in Victorian dress in the keepers' house, a reputation that drew the TAPS team for a 2006 Ghost Hunters investigation.
📍 100 Red Cox Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32080, St. Augustine, FL · Get directions