Map Search    Florida Department of State « Previous    Visit a Lighthouse Alligator Reef Amelia Island American Shoal Anclote Key Boca Grande Cape Canaveral Cape Florida Cape San Blas Cape St. George Carysfort Reef Cedar Keys Crooked River Egmont Key Fowey Rocks Garden Key Gilbert's Bar House of Refuge Museum Hillsboro Inlet Jupiter Inlet Key West Loggerhead Key Pensacola Ponce de Leon Inlet Port Boca Grande Sand Key Sanibel Island Sombrero Key St. Augustine St. Johns Light Ship St. Johns Light Station St. Johns River St. Joseph Bay St. Marks ->Maritime Trail Home ->Lighthouses Home    Next » Sanibel Island Photo courtesy of VISIT FLORIDA.     The104-foot iron-pile Sanibel Island Lighthouse was completed in 1884 after 51 years of requests for a navigational aid. Its third-order Fresnel lens then became a midpoint light between Egmont Key (Tampa) and Key West. Manufactured in New Jersey and shipped to Florida, the tower was lost in a shipwreck two miles from its destination. Divers salvaged all but two small brackets. The pyramidal, 127-step iron tower and two keeper’s houses are the oldest buildings on Sanibel Island. The original light was a fixed white beam that varied with a brighter flash every two minutes. The current optic that produces two grouped flashes every ten seconds was installed in 1965. Still active, the lighthouse is not open to the public; the keepers’ houses are used by employees of the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Find out more: Additional Links: View more pictures of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse View a map of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse Communities | Environments | Forts | Lighthouses | Ports | Shipwrecks | Home The Florida Maritime Heritage Trail was created and is maintained by the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, with initial funding by Florida Coastal Management Program. Send comments to: [email protected]