A Family Pass Admits Up to Four (4) People!

The Lighthouse is St. Augustine's oldest surviving brick structure, and today the site is  restored to colors and materials used the year 1888.  In 1876, a brick light keeper's house was added to the property, a triplex that held two families and a young, single, 2nd assistant keeper, most often of Menorcan descent. Brick summer kitchens were added in 1886. In 1910 10,000 tourists visited the property.  During World War II armed Coastguardsmen stood guard atop the tower, fixed jeeps in the 1836 garage and lived in a small barracks building.  Light keepers' and their assistants lived and worked at the Light Station until the tower was automated in 1955.  After that time Lamplighters lived off site, but also took over maintaining the buoys in the harbor. 

The St. Augustine Lighthouse rises 165 feet above sea level and contains 219 steps that are climbed by visitors. At the top, the original, first order Fresnel lens still serves the beacon, but today is lit by a 1000 watt bulb, and maintained by the museum and volunteers. The St. Augustine lens consists of 370 hand-cut glass prisms arranged in a beehive shape towering twelve feet tall and six feet in diameter.