St. Augustine Lighthouse

The St. Augustine Lighthouse, with its distinctive black-and-white barber-pole spiral, has guided mariners since 1874 and marks the site of Florida's first lighthouse. Visitors can climb its 219 steps for sweeping views over the nation's oldest city and the Atlantic.

Now a lighthouse and maritime museum, the site interprets centuries of seafaring history, shipwreck archaeology, and the keepers who tended the light, in a setting on Anastasia Island.

Visitors climb the 219-step tower for panoramic views, tour the keepers' house and maritime museum, explore the wooded grounds and shipwreck exhibits, and join evening and history programs.

Pleasant year-round; spring and fall offer the mildest weather. Summer is hot and humid, and the tower climb is warm — go early in the day. Clear days give the best views.

St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city in the U.S. The current lighthouse, completed in 1874, replaced an earlier Spanish-era watchtower and colonial light.

The lighthouse sits on Anastasia Island, a barrier island built of coquina — a soft sedimentary rock of compressed shell fragments that was also quarried to build St. Augustine's historic Spanish fort.

The wooded maritime hammock grounds host songbirds and the surrounding waters and marshes hold dolphins, wading birds, and shorebirds; right whales calve offshore in winter.

Anastasia Island's maritime hammock, dune, and salt-marsh habitats edge the Atlantic and the Matanzas River estuary, typical of Florida's northeast barrier-island coast.

The lighthouse is a centerpiece of St. Augustine's deep maritime and colonial heritage and a hub for shipwreck archaeology through its Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program.

On Anastasia Island just east of historic downtown St. Augustine, reached via Highway A1A. Admission is charged; allow time to climb and tour the museum grounds.

The nonprofit that operates the site preserves the historic structures and conducts maritime archaeology. Respect the historic fabric and stay on designated paths in the grounds.

The 219-step climb is steep and warm — not for those with heart, breathing, or mobility limits. Stay behind railings on the gallery, and watch footing on the spiral stairs.

Historic downtown St. Augustine, the Castillo de San Marcos coquina fort, Anastasia State Park's beaches, and the Fountain of Youth are all minutes away.

Climb early in the day to beat heat and crowds, combine your visit with the Castillo de San Marcos and the historic district, and check the schedule for sunset and history programs.