Florida's premier lighthouse historian sets the record straight in this fascinating account of wartime activities at each of the State's 21 Civil War lighthouses. Both sides fought for possession of the towers and their valuable lenses and lamp oil. In the end, 14 Florida lights were damaged and it took more than six years after the war's end before all the lights were restored. Through meticulous research, Neil Hurley has uncovered little-known facts about each lighthouse, including the great care taken by Confederate authorities to protect the lighthouses, lenses and oil. This book is lavishly illustrated with over 200 color ad black & white drawings, photographs and maps.

ISBN 0963641212 LCCN 96072414.

Florida's lighthouses guide shipping south from the St. Marys River to the tip of the Keys, then north to Pensacola Bay. See some of Florida's oldest and most historic structures, with diverse styles of architecture and daymark designs, including the black-and-white bands of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and the spider-legged iron structures along the Florida Reef. This guide has been revised and updated from previous edition, with new photos of renovated lighthouses. It discusses four lighthouses not included in first edition.

Sporting the second-longest coastline in the United States, Florida has over 8,000 miles of sparkling beaches and waterfront property. This valuable landscape and the regions position between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico made Florida key in the early expansion of American trade routes, but the states several capes and dangerous reefs, rocks, and shoals made travel quite perilous to unwary mariners. When commerce and traffic began to grow between ports on the East Coast and along the Gulf of Mexico in the nineteenth century, it became necessary to construct aids to navigation along the states long and treacherous coast. Lighthouses were the solution. Constructed in a variety of styles and sizes, Floridas lighthouses were erected on what, at the time, were some of the most desolate regions of the southeastern United States and included lonely offshore islands. Manned and inhabited by vigilant keepers and their families, these towers illuminated the dark seas and provided the beacon that guided lost travelers. Large brick structures watched over St. Augustine, Pensacola, and Ponce de Leon Inlet; iron skeletons towered over Crooked River and Hillsboro Inlet; and screwpile lighthouses stood as sentinels in the waters off the Florida Keys.

A collection of the histories of Florida's light stations by different authors, each an authority on a particular lighthouse, this book is chock-full of information on dates of construction and operation, foundation materials, lighting equipment, and more. Complete directions to each lighthouse site are included, as well as names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, websites of lighthouse organizations. Preface by Wayne Wheeler, president of the United States Lighthouse Society, as well as a full glossary, bibliography, and index.

Florida was the third Southern state to secede from the United States in 1860-61. With its small population of 140,000 and no manufacturing, few Confederate resources were allocated to protect the state. Some 15,000 Floridians served in the Union and Confederate armies (the highest population percentage of any southern state), but perhaps Florida's greatest contributions came from its production of salt (an essential need for preserving meat and manufacturing gunpowder), its large herds of cattle (which fed two southern armies), and its 1500 mile shoreline (which allowed smugglers to bring critical supplies from Europe and the Carribean). Florida in the Civil War: Blockaders will focus on the men and ships that fought this prolonged battle at sea, along the long and largely vacant coasts of the Sunshine State and on Florida soil. The information will be drawn from official sources, newspaper articles and private accounts. Approximately fifty (50) period photographs and drawings will be incorporated into the text.

"Includes a background essay on the history of the Civil War in Florida, a timeline of events, 31 sidebars on important Florida topics, issues and individuals of the period, and a selected bibliography. It also includes information on over 200 battlefields, fortifications, buildings, cemeteries, museum exhibits, monuments, historical markers, and other sites in Florida with direct links to the Civil War"--[p. 2] of cover.