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Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse Museum

Stop by and visit the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse
 when in the central Florida area

4931 South Peninsula Drive Ponce Inlet, 
Florida 32127 (386) 761-1821

OPEN 7 days a week - 10:00am to 5:00pm
Last admission 4:00pm

Memorial Day through Labor Day 10:00am to 9:00pm
Last admission 8:00pm
Only Closed Christmas Day

$5 for adults, $1.50 for kids 11 and younger

The days of the blue uniformed lighthouse keeper - checking his oil supply, slowly climbing the tower to clean the lens - have passed forever, yet his lighthouse remains. Built of bricks to serve as a functional warning device and possessing a very special beauty noted by seamen and landlubbers alike, the "Light Station at Mosquito Inlet" stands on an Inlet still dreaded by mariners. Completed in 1887 and still an active lighthouse, the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only a handful of light stations in the United States to have all of its original buildings still standing.

Visit the Light Station and climb to the top of the lighthouse for a breathtaking view of the Inlet, Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, and the surrounding area. Enjoy the maritime museums and learn of our great maritime heritage.

A WALKING TOUR OF THE PONCE DE LEON INLET LIGHT STATION

• #1 Entrance Building/Gift Shop: This building was built in 1992 from blueprints drawn in 1883 by the architect of our lighthouse for a keeper's dwelling planned for construction at this light station but never built. A large gift shop, restrooms, the Association's offices, meeting room, and research library are here.
  
  
• #2 Woodshed Video Theater & Privy Exhibit: Wood for the fireplaces and stove of the Second Assistant Keeper's family was kept in this building. In the Video Theater now housed here, you can travel back in time through a twenty minute video program to meet Keeper John Lindquist who tells about the life and history of the Light Station, when it was still called Mosquito Inlet Light Station. Around on the northeast side of this building, you will find the Assistant Keeper's privy, restored as it was when it served as his family's restroom.
  
  
• #3 The Boatyard: This area is reserved for the display of historic vessels. Currently on display is the 46-foot F.D. Russell tug boat which sailed for many years in this area. The vessel was built in 1938 on a creek bank of the St. Mary's River by Captain Frank D. Russell, whose high school shop project was the beautiful ship's wheel. The curved bow stem is from a live oak tree he cut down in Turnbull Hammock and hewed out himself. The frame is oak with two inch cypress hull planking.
  
  
• #4 The Second Assistant Keeper's Dwelling: This keeper's home is one of the three original buildings which served as dwellings for the families of the Keeper and his two assistants. Later, it served as the first Town Hall for Ponce Inlet. Today, it is our Lighthouse Museum. Featuring artifacts, photographs, charts, early uniforms, and documents, it tells the story of the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and its place in the history of Ponce Inlet.
  
  
• #5 The Principal Keeper's Dwelling: In the dwelling which housed the Principal Keeper and his family is located the Museum of the Sea. The exhibits include ship models, navigation instruments, pirates' treasure, marine biology, oceanography, exploration, whaling and deep-sea fishing. The Principal Keeper's kitchen today serves as a special exhibits and display area. His bedroom today serves as our Lens Workshop where visitors can see our staff restoring rare, historic lighthouse lenses and other lighthouse artifacts.
  
  
• #6 The Lighthouse: With a brick foundation 12 feet deep and 45 feet wide, the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse soars to 175 feet, one of the tallest brick lighthouses in the nation. The tower is 32 feet in diameter at the base and tapers to 12-1/2 feet at the top. The brick walls are 8 feet thick at the bottom and 2 feet thick at the top. One and a quarter million bricks were used to build the lighthouse, and the work took more than four years to complete. In the center of the Italian marble ground floor is the weight well, a standard feature of lighthouses, designed to catch items falling down the tower. Including the seven granite steps at the entrance to the Lighthouse, the iron, spiral staircase leads you 203 steps upwards to the lighthouse gallery (balcony) where the view from the top is unexcelled in our area.
  
  
• #7 The Pump House: Over a well dug in 1907, this building was constructed to house a water pump which was operated by a windmill built on a tower over the building. Water was pumped upwards to a 600 gallon cypress-wood water tank on the windmill tower. An electric generator was installed in 1925, bringing electricity to the Light Station. A year later, an electric water pump was also installed, and the windmill was taken down. Today, the well is still in use to supply water for the irrigation of our lawns.
  
  
• #8 First Assistant Keeper's Dwelling: This dwelling is named for Gladys Meyer Davis, a lifelong resident of Ponce Inlet, who was born here. Her father, Edward L. Meyer, was the last civilian principal lightkeeper at Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse. This dwelling has been restored and furnished as it would have been at the turn of the century. In the kitchen, at the rear of the house, can be seen the china cabinet which was part of the original furnishings of the house when it was completed in 1887. The table and chairs are from the Meyer family. Laundry was done in wash sheds at the rear of each dwelling.
  
  
• #9 Generator/Radio Shack Building: Originally a woodshed and privy for the First Assistant Keeper's family, two electrical generators, like the one still here, were installed in the woodshed room in 1940, when a radio beacon was established at this Light Station. In 1943, the Coast Guard built the "Radio Shack" addition on the front of the woodshed to house a new radio room. Today, tools and equipment used by the Keepers and a collection of photographs of lighthouses from around the world are displayed here.
  
  
• #10 The Ayres Davies Lens Exhibit Building: This building, built in 1995, houses our growing collection of lighthouse lenses and exhibits explaining the history and technology of Lighthouse Illumination. Designed like original buildings of the Light Station, this structure was built specifically to display the magnificent First Order Fresnel lens that was used in the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse from 1868 to 1993, and the lens that was used in our lighthouse from 1933 to 1970.
  
  
• #11 USLHS Bell: This 600-pound bronze bell was cast by the E.A. Williams Bell Founders, Jersey City, NJ, in 1911. Bells like this were used by the United States Lighthouse Service as fog signals at lighthouses and on lightships. This particular bell was mounted on a sea buoy at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, but sank in a storm soon afterwards. Recovered by the United States Coast Guard in 1987, it was donated to our Light Station.
  
  
• #12 Oil Storage House: Built in 1887 with a unique double-wall ventilation system for safety, this was one of the first and largest buildings ever built at a lighthouse in the United States for the storage of kerosene. On shelves, inside, "mineral oil" was stored in 500 5-gallon cans. The shelves were replaced in 1927 by two large iron tanks which are still in the building. Gutted by fire set by vandals in 1970, the Oil Storage Building was fully restored in 1989. Today, it exhibits various examples of small aids to navigation.