St Augustine Lighthouse

Resting at the northern end of Anastasia Island Florida, the St. Augustine Lighthouse has warned and provided light to the incoming and passing ships that sail through the Matanzas Inlet and Atlantic Ocean for more than 100 years, and today it's one of the most popular and most visited area attractions. The lighthouse that is preserved and toured today is actually a replacement for an original Lighthouse that existed for decades before it deteriorated and fell into the Atlantic Ocean in 1880. City officials knew that this structure was damaged and in 1871 began planning for a better equipped Lighthouse that would be built further inland.
The current Lighthouse took more than three years to construct and was finally completed in 1874, just before the previous one was swallowed by the sea. It rises more than 165 feet above sea level and features state of the art telescopes and observation technology that was used in the early part of the 20th century. Visitors to the Lighthouse can climb to the top of the tower and enjoy browsing the historical artifacts in the museum. The museum includes the lighthouse keeper's suite where the infamous Lighthouse keeper and family lived. Tours of the Lighthouse generally last about an hour, and the grounds are handicap accessible, however the tower itself is not. Visitors must climb all 219 steps to see the views from atop the tower's observation point as the tower was never equipped with modern conveniences of today, like elevators.