![]() ![]() Augustine quickly rallied around Maria, realizing that she was the most knowledgeable person to maintain the lighthouse. His death greatly alarmed the community, and the town of St. In December 1859, Joseph Andreu was white-washing the lighthouse tower when the scaffolding he was standing on broke and Joseph fell sixty feet to his death. Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury said:Ĭivility should be enjoined as a duty to strangers wishing to examine the Lights, and, in case of shipwrecks near, every practical effort required to be made to render reasonable and efficient relief, and all due vigilance exercised to detect and expose every breech of the revenue laws in his neighborhood. Reaching out to lost sailors became a part of the service’s daily responsibilities. For Joseph, his wife Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu served as back up lighthouse keeper, helped with the garden, and raised their children. ![]() That same year, the lighthouse was outfitted with a revolving Fresnel lens, and the height of the tower was increased to more than fifty feet. Joseph Andreu, son of Juan Andreu, became St. The best keepers are found to be old sailors, who are accustomed to watch at night, who are more likely to turn out in and find their way to the lighthouse to trim their lamps, because in such weather, they know by experience the value of a light, while on similar occasions the landsman keeper would be apt to consider such weather as the best excuse for remaining snug in bed. Lighthouse Survey and a lighthouse designer and builder stated: Isaiah William Penn Lewis, engineer to the U.S. ![]() The government paid Andreu $350 a year to care for the lighthouse, including the ten oil lamps that were set in silver reflectors. Juan was born in Florida to parents who had come from Minorca, an island off the eastern coast of Spain. Juan Andreu was the first Hispanic-American to serve in the Coast Guard, which had been founded in 1790, and the first official keeper of the St. In the early 19th century, the responsibilities of manning a lighthouse were so important that only the president of the United States could appoint and dismiss keepers, who were usually men. It was placed in service in 1824, three years after Florida became a U.S. government appropriated $5,000 to convert the old Spanish tower into a lighthouse with a height of about thirty feet. Augustine was the leading port in their newly acquired territory, the U.S. The resulting regularly flashing light seen by mariners served to distinguish the lighthouse from stars or shore lights.Īs St. This system, invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, scans the 8 beams from the lens around the whole horizon. A clockwork mechanism, driven by weight, slowly turns the entire lamp-lens assembly on six rollers. The cylindrical lens with 8 faces stood 10 feet high. Image: Lighthouse Lantern Room from mid-1800sĬutaway drawing of a lighthouse lantern room from mid 1800s showing the Fresnel lens. In the 19th century, the lighthouse keeper was also the first person sailors turned to for help in an emergency therefore maintenance of a light was vital to the country while the most efficient shipping method was by water. Only by maintaining a flashing light along the coastline to mark harbors and hazards were mariners able to manage treacherous seas along shorelines. However, the 1783 Treaty of Paris returned control of Florida to the Spanish, who controlled Florida until 1821 when they relinquished it to the United States, who built many lighthouses along the eastern coast of the state. Spain ceded control of Florida to the English in 1763, in exchange for control of Cuba. Augustine, the Matanzas River flows past barrier islands named Anastasia and Conch and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.Įarly on, the Spanish constructed a wooden lookout tower on the northern end of Anastasia Island, overlooking the inlet that leads to St. Augustine, the oldest permanent European settlement in North America. Menendez arrived off the Florida coast in 1565 and established the fledgling colony of St. Approximately fifty years later, Spain attempted to colonize Florida by dispatching Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles to the area. Image shows the various stages of the lighthouse structure.ĭon Juan Ponce de Leon discovered La Florida, the Land of Flowers, in 1513. Augustine Lighthouse, home of Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreuīuilt in 1700 aided mariners for 162 years.
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