The unmanned reef lights of the Florida Keys were navigational aids erected near the
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
between 1921 and 1935. They were intended to mark local hazards and did not need to be visible for as far as the reef lights that were erected near the Keys during the 19th century. By the time the lights in this list were erected, older lighthouses were being automated, and these new lights were designed to be automated from the start. The lights resembled the older reef lights in having a
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
skeletal pyramidal structure on a
screw-pile foundation. They all originally had lanterns on their peaks, so that they looked like smaller versions of the older reef lights, but had no keeper's quarters.
The first two unmanned lights in the Florida Keys, the
Molasses Reef
Molasses Reef is a coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the southeast of Key Largo, within the Key Largo Existing Management Area, which is immediately to the east of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State P ...
Light and the
Pacific Reef Light, were built as square pyramidal towers to the same plan in 1921. The
Hen and Chickens Shoal Light was the smallest of these lights, and the only one built as a triangular pyramidal tower. It still exists, serving as a
daymark
A daymark is a navigational aid for sailors and pilots, distinctively marked to maximize its visibility in daylight.
The word is also used in a more specific, technical sense to refer to a signboard or daytime identifier that is attached to a ...
. The lantern has been removed. A design for a standardized hexagonal pyramidal tower was developed in 1932 and used for the Smith Shoal and
Tennessee Reef
Tennessee Reef is a coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the southeast of Long Key
Long Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys. Long Key was called Cayo VĂbora (Rattlesnake Key) by early Spanish ...
lights erected in 1933, and for the Cosgrove Shoal and Pulaski Shoal lights erected in 1935.
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List of lights
Gallery
Two of the lights built to the 1932 design.
Pulaskishoallh.JPG, Pulaski Shoal Light
Tennesseereeflight.JPG, Tennessee Reef Light
Notes
References
{{Lighthouses of Florida
Lighthouses in Monroe County, Florida