10/30 St. Augustine Lighthouse

 I have been to St. Augustine several times, but never stopped at the impressive lighthouse, so today, as I was driving past, I decided on the spur of the moment to turn in and stop here. 

The grounds of the lighthouse were covered in old growth live oak trees. This is the front of the light keepers residence.

It was very hard to get a good photo of the entire lighthouse because it was so tall and the nearby trees kept me from standing back far enough.

This is the back of the building that was the residence of the keepers.  It looks a little like a military barracks.

The St. Augustine light is the second tallest in Florida, and one of the tallest in the U.S.  There are 219 steps up to the top, and this sign suggests who should NOT climb all the stairs. I was a bit concerned because of my age, but I decided that the worst that could happen is that I would not make it to the top and have to come back down.

On the ground floor was this storage room for the oil that was originally used to produce the flame in the lighthouse lens.

 

 

These next two photos are of the keepers office on the ground floor of the lighthouse. 

 

 

 

Heading up.  Makes me a bit dizzy to tale photos up or down.  

 

It's a long way up. 

 

 

 

What really helps make this climb doable is that most of the landings have signs giving some of the history of the lighthouse, so while you are catching your breath, you can do some reading.

 

This one describes how the young son of the head lighthouse keeper, put a parachute on the families cat and tossed her from the top of the lighthouse.  She survived, but disappeared for a few weeks to no doubt recover from her trauma!   

 

This was had some stories about the birds that kept hitting the lighthouse and dying.

Made it to the top and looking down.

There is a very nice walkway around the top, so I took some photos of the area.

Taking this one really made me dizzy!!!

This one shows the old Fort St. Augustine in the distance. 

The only photo I could get of the lens. 

Next to the lighthouse there was a demonstration area where several boats were being built. 

Onward to my next campground, just about an hour away!!  It was a worthwhile stop, and I really enjoyed my climb.