1874 Black-and-White-Striped Tower, 219 Steps
100 Red Cox Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32080
Age
Tower climb requires minimum height 44 inches
Cost
$$
Admission charged for tower climb and museum; combo with maritime archaeology exhibits. See venue website for current pricing.
Access
Limited Access
219-step spiral staircase to the lantern room; grounds and lower exhibits are accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1874 · Active First-Order Fresnel Lens · National Register of Historic Places · Florida Maritime Archaeology Center
Spanish colonial authorities established a watchtower on Anastasia Island in the late 16th century to mark the entrance to Matanzas Bay and protect the supply route to St. Augustine. A coquina-stone tower stood at the site through the early 19th century. The U.S. Lighthouse Service designed a permanent replacement following coastal erosion that threatened the older structure, and construction of the present 165-foot brick tower began in 1871.
During construction, on July 10, 1873, four young people working or playing on the supply tramway at the building site died in a drowning accident. The construction railway carried materials from supply ships docked at Salt Run up to the building pad. The wooden timber that normally stopped the cart at the water's edge had been removed. Mary Pittee (15), Eliza Pittee (13), and an unnamed African-American girl (10) were trapped under the overturned cart and drowned. The youngest Pittee daughter, four-year-old Carrie, was pulled to safety by Dan Sessions, a young African-American worker on the construction crew. The girls were the daughters of construction superintendent Hezekiah H. Pittee.
The tower was lit on October 15, 1874, with a first-order Fresnel lens still in operation today. The black-and-white spiral daymark is the station's distinguishing feature on charts of the Florida coast.
The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1955 and transferred the keeper's house and grounds to the Junior Service League of St. Augustine in 1980 for restoration. The non-profit St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum opened the restored complex in 1994. The Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP), housed at the museum, conducts shipwreck and underwater-archaeology research along the First Coast.
The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as an active aid to navigation.
Sources
The lighthouse's most prominent paranormal narrative centers on the 1873 drowning of the three Pittee daughters and their friend during construction. The venue's interpretive program acknowledges the lore with archival care: the deaths are documented in the Pittee family record and in contemporary press coverage, but the paranormal reports are presented as visitor and staff accounts rather than as confirmed supernatural events.
Reported phenomena include the sound of children laughing on the upper gallery and the tower stairs, a young girl in 19th-century dress photographed on the grounds and in the keeper's house, and ribbons of blue light that have been captured on infrared photography. Staff arriving early to open the museum have reported hearing footsteps on the stairs above them.
The keeper's house produces a distinct second cluster of reports tied to former keepers and their families. Smell of cigar smoke has been documented in the parlor; the rocking chair in the upstairs bedroom has been reported as moving when no one is present. The basement, which houses LAMP archaeological equipment, has produced equipment-malfunction reports during paranormal investigations.
The lighthouse appeared on Syfy's Ghost Hunters in 2006, on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, and on several other paranormal programs. The site has been ranked among the most-haunted places in Florida and the world by various commercial and editorial outlets.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Climb the 219 steps to the lantern room of the 1874 brick tower, the second-tallest lighthouse on the Florida coast, and tour the restored keeper's house museum below. Exhibits cover Florida maritime history, the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP), and the 1873 construction-era drowning of the Pittee girls.
Seasonal evening paranormal investigation tour through the tower, keeper's quarters, and grounds. The venue's interpretive program centers on documented reports from staff and visitors, with equipment use under guide supervision. Check venue website for current schedule.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
St. Augustine, FL
The St. Augustine Lighthouse on Anastasia Island, Florida, was lit on October 15, 1874, replacing an older Spanish-era watchtower closer to shore. The 165-foot brick tower is Florida's oldest standing masonry lighthouse and is operated as a museum by the nonprofit St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum.
Marietta, GA
The Kennesaw House was built in 1845 as a cotton warehouse on what is now Marietta Square, adjacent to the railroad tracks that would define its Civil War history. Purchased by Dix Fletcher in 1855 and converted into the Fletcher House hotel, it served as both a staging point for the famous Great Locomotive Chase of April 1862 and as a hospital and morgue for Confederate and Union forces during Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Today it houses the Marietta History Center.
Franklin, KY
Andrew Jackson Caldwell laid the foundation of Octagon Hall in 1847, completing the distinctive eight-sided brick residence by approximately 1860. Built on 300 acres in Franklin, Kentucky, it served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War and as a hiding place for retreating Confederate troops. The Octagon Hall Foundation acquired the site in 2001 and operates it as a museum and investigation venue.