Sombrero Key Light

Sombrero Key Light

File:USCGSombrero key 1971 sm.jpg Sombrero Key Light (from U.S. Coast Guard archives)
Location	near Key Vaca in Marathon, Florida
Coordinates
Year first lit	1858
Automated	1960
Foundation	iron pilings with disks
Construction	cast iron
Tower shape	skeletal octagonal pyramid
Height	142 feet (43 m)
Original lens	first-order Fresnel lens
Range	White 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi), Red 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi)
Racon	"M" (— —)
Admiralty number	J2998
ARLHS number	USA-768
USCG number	3-1000
Sombrero Key Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Offshore approx. 5.5 mi. SSW. of Marathon
Nearest city	Marathon, Florida
Coordinates
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	12000092
Added to NRHP	March 9, 2012

Sombrero Key Light is located near Key Vaca in Marathon, Florida. The lighthouse is located on a mostly submerged reef. The name Sombrero Key goes back to the Spanish, and old charts show a small island at the spot, but by the later 19th Century the island had eroded away, with some parts of the reef exposed at low tide. As a result, the reef and the lighthouse have also been called Dry Banks.

The lighthouse was put in service in 1858, automated in 1960, and is still in operation. The foundation is iron pilings with disks, and the tower is a skeletal octagonal pyramid of cast iron. It is a 142-foot (43 m) tall brown painted tower. It has two platforms. The lower one, 15 feet (4.6 m) above the water, held water and fuel tanks, the generator (after the light was electrified), boat hoists and a workshop. The upper platform, 40 feet (12 m) above the water, held the quarters for the staff. The original lens, a first-order Fresnel lens, is now on display in the Key West Lighthouse Museum. The Sombrero Key Light is the tallest lighthouse in the Florida Keys, and was the last lighthouse constructed under the supervision of Lieutenant George Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers.

Keepers

• Joseph Bethel 1858 – 1859
• Joseph F. Papy 1859 – 1860
• Anthony Davis 1860 – 1862
• James Bryson 1862 – 1864
• John H. Singleton 1864 – 1866
• ohn Carroll 1866 – 1870
• Peter Crocker 1870 – 1872
• Adolphus A. Seymour 1872 – 1873
• Jeremiah Buckley 1873 – 1881
• Thomas J. Pinder 1881 – 1884
• Melville Evans Spencer 1884 – 1889
• Rudolph Rieke 1889 – 1904
• John Watkins 1904 – 1913
• Miguel Fabal 1913 – 1919
• William H. Pierce 1919 – at least 1933
• Edward P. Johnson 1936 – 1941
• Furman C. Williamson 1958 –1960

Further reading

• McCarthy, Kevin M. 1990. Cape Florida Lighthouse. Florida Lighthouses. (pp. 41–44). University of Florida Press.