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Listen: The Latin ProgramAerial view of the Cape Florida Lighthouse at Key Biscayne.
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Collection
, Series 1047, Box 5, Folder 1
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General Note
Built in 1825, the 65-foot-tall Cape Florida Lighthouse guided early shipping through the Florida Channel near Key Biscayne. In 1836 a dramatic fight between Seminole Indians and the temporary keeper and his assistant led to an interior explosion heard 12 miles away. Rebuilt in 1846, the tower was raised to 95 feet in 1855 and a second-order Fresnel lens was installed. Damaged during the Civil War by Confederate sympathizers, it was relighted in 1867. Replaced in 1878 by the Fowey Rocks light, the Cape Florida Lighthouse remained darkened until activated again in 1978. It now can be seen for a distance of seven miles. The lighthouse is in the Bill Baggs/Cape Florida State Park and is open for tours. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Cape Florida was later designated a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site in September 2004.
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