The Cedar Key Light is located on Seahorse Key across the harbor from

Cedar Key, Florida Cedar Key is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. The population was 702 at the 2010 census. The Cedar Keys are a cluster of islands near the mainland. Most of the developed area of the city has been on Way Key since the end of the 19th ...

. Seahorse Key was the site a watchtower erected in 1801 by followers of

William Augustus Bowles William Augustus Bowles (1763–1805), also known as Estajoca, was a Maryland soldier and adventurer. Seeing action as a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, Bowles later formed an alliance with the Muscogee people and attempted to establish ...

, self-designated ''Director General of the

State of Muskogee The State of Muskogee was a proclaimed sovereign nation located in Florida, founded in 1799 and led by William Augustus Bowles, a Loyalist veteran of the American Revolutionary War who lived among the Muscogee, and envisioned uniting the Amer ...

'', an attempt to set up an independent state in the western part of

East Florida East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...

. The watchtower was destroyed by a Spanish naval force in 1802. Seahorse Key was used as a detention center for

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

s captured in the

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and ...

(1835–1842) before transfer to the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. At that time the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

reserved several of the islands in the Cedar Keys archipelago for military use. Cedar Key became an important port during the 1840s, and in 1850

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

appropriated funding for a lighthouse on Seahorse Key. Lieutenant

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate States Army, Confederate Full General (CSA), General Robert E. Lee at the Battle ...

helped design the lighthouse. The lighthouse was completed and lit in 1854. At the beginning of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

sympathizers extinguished the light. Federal troops occupied Seahorse Key in 1862, and used it as a prison for the duration of the war. The lighthouse was put back into service after the war ended. The lighthouse building was tripled in size in 1905 when a U.S. Navy wireless station was established there. The light was taken out of commission in 1915. Seahorse Key, including the lighthouse, became part of the

Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge The Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located near Cedar Key, at the western end of SR 24 Route 24, or Highway 24, can refer to: International * European route E24 Australia * ...

, established in 1929. The

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

has leased of the wildlife refuge, including the lighthouse, for use as a marine laboratory since 1952. The lighthouse is used as a dormitory for students. The Cedar Key lighthouse is the oldest standing lighthouse on the west coast of Florida.

References

External links

Article at Lighthouse friends
{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1854 Lighthouses in Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Levy County, Florida 1854 establishments in Florida University of Florida Cedar Key, Florida

See also

References

External links