Chris Belcher - The Florida Lighthouse Trail

Harold J. Hal Belcher was a long-time resident of Fernandina Beach, a local historian, and founding president of the Amelia Island Lighthouse and Museum.

Chris Belcher is the son of Hal Belcher and a lifelong resident of Fernandina Beach. He followed in his fathers footsteps as Amelia Island Lighthouses representative to the Florida Lighthouse Association. He also served as president of the Florida Lighthouse Association from 2015 to 2019.

Joan Gill Blank has been a resident of Key Biscayne since 1951. She is a now-retired historian and author of Key Biscayne: A History of Miamis Tropical Island and the Cape Florida Lighthouse and editor of Born of the Sun: The Official Florida Bicentennial Commemorative Book.

Hibbard Hib Casselberry was a World War II veteran and one of Floridas most noted lighthouse enthusiasts. He was a founding member of the Florida Lighthouse Association, Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society, and Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation.

Love Dean (Winslow) was a resident of the Florida Keys, a noted historian, and author of several books about lighthouses, including Lighthouses of the Florida Keys.

Elinor De Wire is a nationally noted lighthouse historian and author of many lighthouse books, one of which, Guide to Florida Lighthouses, has become a standard.

Thomas M. Garner is the author of The Pensacola Lighthouse booklet and was the first Florida Lighthouse Association District Commissioner for the Florida panhandle.

Marilyn Hoeckel worked with the Barrier Island Parks Society, including the development of the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse Museum.

Neil Hurley is a retired Coast Guard officer. He is the longtime historian of the Florida Lighthouse Association and author of many books about Florida lighthouses and lighthouse keepers. He has also actively participated in many Florida lighthouse restoration projects.

Richard Johnson was president of the Egmont Key Alliance and secretary of the Florida Lighthouse Association when this books first edition was published. He remains an active member of the Alliance.

Herman and Trip Jones are a father-and-son team who have been interested in the Gulf Coast lighthouses for many years and are major proponents of their preservation.

Janet and Scott Keeler were instrumental in the preservation of the Anclote Keys Lighthouse. Scott was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, and his photographs of lighthouses have been displayed around the state.

Craig Kittendorf is a ranger at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and the St. Marks Lighthouse representative to the Florida Lighthouse Association.

Charles LeBuff lived for many years in the keepers quarters of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse. He is a noted local historian and author of two books about Sanibels history.

John Lee was president of the Cape St. George Lighthouse Society and editor of the Apalachicola Times newspaper. He led efforts to save the lighthouse in the 1990s.

Andrew M. Liliskis founded the Mayport Lighthouse Association. He led a vigorous but unsuccessful campaign to restore permanent public access to the St. Johns River Lighthouse.

Josh Liller is the historian and collections manager at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum. He is Jupiters representative to the Florida Lighthouse Association and a historian of the Florida Lighthouse Association.

Harry Pettit is a longtime member of the Florida Lighthouse Association and a former board member.

Danny Raffield and his family have been responsible for the preservation and restoration of the St. Joseph Point Lighthouse, which now serves as their private residence.

Barbara Revell was a major proponent of the preservation of the Crooked River Lighthouse and the first president of the Carrabelle Lighthouse Association.

Thomas W. Tom Taylor was historian at the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, president of the Florida Lighthouse Association, founder of the Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation, and editor of the first edition of this book.

T he Florida Lighthouse Association is grateful to all of the authors who have contributed to this work, as well as artist Paul Bradley, whose superb talents greatly enhance the book. Thanks are also given to Hib Casselberry, Stuart McIver, Dr. Kevin McCarthy, James Dunlap, Neil Hurley, Richard Atwood, Linda Koestal, and Carol Moore for their proofreading assistance. Our great appreciation also goes to June Cussen and her staff at Pineapple Press for seeing the merit in this project and for so professionally editing, publishing, and marketing this book, and to Sandy Wright for her typesetting expertise.

The Florida Lighthouse Association is grateful to the many individuals who have worked so hard since the first edition of this book to restore, preserve, and interpret many of Floridas lighthouses and thus help necessitate a second edition. Thanks to the staff at Pineapple Press for being interested in a new edition rather than letting this guide go out of print.

The US Lighthouse Societys Light Lists and J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Catalog were particularly helpful resources in updating and expanding the first edition. Kraig Andersons LighthouseFriends.com was also a very useful secondary source.

For the chapters in which the main text received only some updates about recent events and small corrections that did not substantially change the content from the first edition, the author credit remains unchanged. Where the additions and corrections were more substantial, the author credit has been updated accordingly. The appendices have been substantially updated, and much of the content is completely new to this edition.

Whenever possible, staff or volunteers at each lighthouse were contacted to review their lighthouses updates for accuracy. Proofreading and/or updated information for this edition provided by: Kate Aguiar, Kevin Begos, Chris Belcher, John Canetta, James Hargrove, Ellen Henry, Jon Hill, Barbara Holland, Terry Kemp, Billie Kinnett, Craig Kittendorf, Ralph Krugler, Eric Martin, Sharon McKenzie, Jessica Morgan, Betty Lowe Phelps, Richard Sanchez, and Sonny Witt. Special thanks go to FLA Historian Neil Hurley for additional research and fact checking.

1. Amelia Island
2. St. Johns
3. Cape Canaveral
4. Jupiter Inlet
5. Hillsboro Inlet
6. Fowey Rocks
7. Sanibel Island
8. Port Boca Grande
9. Egmont Key
10. Pensacola

1. St. Augustine
2. Ponce de Leon Inlet
3. Cape Florida
4. Gasparilla Island
5. Anclote Key
6. Cedar Key
7. St. Marks
8. Crooked River
9. Cape St. George

1. St. Johns River
2. Carysfort Reef
3. Alligator Reef
4. Sombrero Key
5. American Shoal
6. Key West
7. Sand Key
8. Tortugas Harbor (Garden Key)
9. Dry Tortugas (Loggerhead Key)
10. Cape San Blas
11. St. Joseph Point

T his is a list of all historic and replica Fresnel lenses (sixth-order or larger) used in, intended for, and/or exhibited at a Florida lighthouse or other lighted aid to navigation. It does not include lens lanterns, steamer lenses, or other small lenses. Manufacturer and year of manufacture are listed in parenthesis. Stations not included are not known to have any associated Fresnel lenses. Note that a lens being exhibited means on display in some way, but not necessarily in a location accessible to the general public (ex.: on a military base). The current whereabouts of each lens is unknown unless otherwise stated.