The first large iron-pile lighthouse on the Florida reef, completed in 1852 after 64 ships sank on Carysfort Reef in a single decade — its first keeper was found dead inside the structure, and the moaning that echoed through the metal tower afterward was attributed to his ghost for generations.
6 miles offshore, Key Largo, Key Largo, FL 33037
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Best viewed via chartered dive or snorkel boat from Key Largo. No formal lighthouse access; structure is decommissioned and closed. Boat tour prices vary by operator.
Access
Limited Access
Offshore reef lighthouse accessible only by boat; not open for boarding
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1852 · First Large Iron-Pile Lighthouse on Florida Reef · Third Screw-Pile Lighthouse in United States · Designed by I.W.P. Lewis; Completed by George Meade · Named for HMS Carysfort Reef Incident (1770) · Predecessor Lightship Attacked by Seminoles (1837)
The stretch of reef six miles east of Key Largo had been sinking ships since at least the 18th century. The HMS Carysfort, a 28-gun Royal Navy vessel, struck the reef in 1770 and barely escaped — the reef took the ship's name. Between 1833 and 1841, records document 324 shipwrecks in the Florida Keys overall, approximately 64 of them on Carysfort Reef specifically.
Congress appropriated funds in 1847 for a permanent lighthouse to replace the lightship that had been tending the station. That vessel's captain, John Whalton, had been killed on June 23, 1837, when Seminole warriors attacked a shore party he was leading during a supply expedition. Four of his crew were also killed. The lightship was subsequently maintained by replacement crews until the permanent structure was ready.
Engineer I.W.P. Lewis designed the screw-pile structure, with wrought-iron parts forged in Philadelphia. Captain Howard Stansbury of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers oversaw initial construction, developing an innovative method of placing foundation piles through cast-iron disks to distribute load over the coral reef. Lieutenant George Meade — later the Union general at Gettysburg — completed the project. The light became operational on July 31, 1852.
The structure stands 120 feet tall with the focal point 100 feet above water, built as an octagonal pyramidal skeletal tower on iron-pile foundations arranged in an octagon 50 feet in diameter. More than 100 keepers served at the lighthouse between 1852 and 1962. The Coast Guard automated the light in 1962 and deactivated it entirely in 2014 after determining the structure was unstable. A modern beacon at 40 feet now serves the navigational function.
Sources
The paranormal tradition at Carysfort Reef Light is among the oldest in the Florida Keys, rooted in a death at the lighthouse itself during its first operational year. Local accounts identify the first keeper as Captain Johnson, who was found dead inside the 120-foot structure shortly after taking his post in 1852. The circumstances of his death are not detailed in official lighthouse service records consulted for this research.
Following Johnson's death, the lighthouse developed a reputation for eerie sounds that persisted through the 19th century. Keepers and fishermen working the reef after dark reported low groaning and moaning that echoed through the iron tower, moving through the structure in a way that seemed organic rather than mechanical. The sounds were widely attributed to Johnson's ghost.
A local fisherman who had spent considerable time near the lighthouse offered a competing explanation: the sounds were the product of the iron framing expanding and contracting with temperature changes between day and night in the subtropical climate. Keys Life Magazine, in a feature on Upper Keys haunted sites, documented a local historian's note that the moaning could be explained by metal thermal contraction — while acknowledging that the paranormal tradition predated the structural explanation by decades.
The lighthouse also generated a more recent account from a Coast Guard maintenance worker who reported seeing a skeletal apparition near the base of the structure during underwater maintenance — a figure in period clothing that moved slowly, allowed close observation, and vanished before the worker's eyes. The worker requested immediate extraction from the site.
Notable Entities
Dive and snorkel operators out of Key Largo run trips to the Carysfort Reef area, where the lighthouse is visible from the water. The reef is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The lighthouse structure itself is closed and not accessible for boarding.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Grand Canyon Village, AZ
Grand Canyon National Park encompasses 1,217,262 acres of canyon, plateau, and Colorado River corridor in northern Arizona. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon a national monument in 1908; Congress established the national park on February 26, 1919. The park's South Rim Grand Canyon Village Historic District and North Rim Grand Canyon Lodge are landmarks of early National Park Service architecture.
Estes Park, CO
Rocky Mountain National Park, established by President Woodrow Wilson on January 26, 1915, preserves 415 square miles of Front Range Colorado including Trail Ridge Road, Longs Peak, and the headwaters of the Colorado River. The park's Ute and Arapaho heritage is documented in oral tradition and in early settler accounts including the Legend of Grand Lake.