Fowey Rocks Lighthouse

Fowey Rocks Lighthouse is an active, skeletal iron-pile light standing over the reef about five miles offshore from Cape Florida. You come by boat to see its white keeper's dwelling and metal framework rising from open water, and to snorkel around the base. The tower is closed to the public, so think of this as an offshore landmark and reef stop, not a climbable lighthouse.

The Maritime Heritage Trail is reached by boat, and there is no public shore approach or visitor facility at the light. NPS lists mooring buoys around Fowey Rocks; check the park's current boating information before relying on a particular buoy. Treat this place pin as an identification point, not marine navigation advice.

Construction began in 1875, with a work platform set above the water and supplies ferried from Soldier Key. The two-story octagonal keeper's dwelling sits within a tall iron framework, with an enclosed spiral stair rising through its center. During construction, the ship Arratoon Apcar ran aground beside the work platform in 1878; its wreck later became part of the park's Maritime Heritage Trail.

The original first-order Fresnel lens was made in Paris and shown at Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exposition before it was installed here. The light first shone in 1878. That lens is now at the Coast Guard's navigation training center in Virginia; a solar-powered light has replaced it, and the Coast Guard still maintains the beacon.

NPS includes the lighthouse as the newest stop on its Maritime Heritage Trail, alongside six mapped shipwrecks. Snorkeling around the base is part of the draw. For a photograph from a boat, keep the iron legs below the keeper's dwelling in frame; they show how this light stands over the reef rather than on shore.