This past October 20th, it was discovered that the historic lighthouse had toppled over on the beach and in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We have been writing about the plight of this lighthouse as long as Lighthouse Digest has been published. Back in the mid-1990s, the Cape St. George Lighthouse raised over $200,000 to stabilize the lighthouse that had been tilting from damage caused by Hurricane Opal.
However, erosion and storms removed the sand base from the lighthouse and it was soon again in danger of collapsing. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection had been trying to get a grant of $350,000 to move the lighthouse to safer location.
This proves once again that time is running out for many of our lighthouses. The general public, along with many national and state legislators and much of the private grant-giving community, do not understand that time is of the essence in saving many of these historic structures. While it’s true that many have been saved, a lot more are in danger of being lost forever.
This story appeared in the
December 2005 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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