In Jupiter, Florida, there is a 108-foot lighthouse standing 146 above sea level in plain sight; it is hard to miss this tower in the sky. Yet few know the role this Lighthouse and its position along the Florida coast has played in history. Let me explain.
This Lighthouse was designed in 1855 by George Meade, the same man who would defeat General Lee’s army at Gettysburg. Meade had anticipated it would take a crew of 20 men working around the calendar a year to build the light and at the cost of $35,000. However, the construction of the Lighthouse took several years to complete. This was due to factors such as the 3rd Seminole War interrupting work and the inlet’s silting shut, which caused supplies to be offloaded from large ships to smaller sloops in 35 miles out in the Indian River Inlet.
Construction finally began under Edward A. Yorke’s supervision in January of 1860. By mid-May, the tower had risen to its height of 108 feet. Yorke is credited with personally calibrating the Fresnel lens in the light. This lens is 1 of only 13 active First-Order Fresnel lenses in the entire United States today. The first official lighting of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse took place on July 10th, 1860.
There is a lot of history surrounding this Lighthouse, but let’s look at just a few of the interesting points. The Lighthouse was built because near Jupiter Inlet “to mark the dangerous shoals lying off that point and guide vessels along that coast.” Some of the boats that were guided by the light in the 1860s were those of Confederate blockade runners and the Union gunboats that were patrolling for them.
In August 1861, former Assistant Keeper of the Lighthouse, Augustine Lang, sent the Keeper, Joseph Papy, on his way to Key West, while they disabled the light. The Jupiter Inlet light would remain dark until the end of the War between the States. It would not be relit until June 28th, 1866. It has been an active navigation aid from that day to this.
The Lighthouse had a military presence for much of its history. The Navy had a Naval Radio Station, and the Coast Guard built a D/F of High-frequency direction-finding station nearby. With the onset of War in Europe in 1939, the Navy established an intelligence listening post at Jupiter Inlet. By April of 1940, the US had abandoned any pretext of neutrality, and the Jupiter Inlet post was acknowledged as an interceptor and D/F Station.
The post’s official name was The Communications Radio Intelligence Unit and Radio Direction Finding Station, also known as “Station J”. You might wonder why the US needed a Radio intelligence unit along the coast of Florida. German U-boats had been hunting tankers and cargo ships that were headed from South American and US Ports to sink their cargo before it could be transported to Britain or other European Allies. The U-boats were having a hay day, sinking boats off the coast of Florida. It is believed that the U-boats are credited with sinking some 70 ships in the Gulf and along the Florida coast.
Station J’s job was to intercept the radioactivity of the U-boats when they would surface during the night to charge their batteries and send messages home. These intercepted messages were used to warn Allied ships and led to the sinking of many U-boats. This included 67 that were destroyed along the Florida coast from May to June of 1941. Station J was decommissioned on July 15th, 1945.
The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Museum is housed in the last remaining Married quarters building on the property and is where you will pay your admission to climb the light.
Many places around Florida have such unique historical importance that few people know about. If you are interested in learning more about Florida’s history, you can check out the other videos on the channel and leave a comment telling us what you would like to see or read about next.
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