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The Anclote Key Lighthouse just west of Tarpon Springs, Florida, will soon be shining once again, judging by the progress being made by some very dedicated people. This lighthouse is on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday list. A $500,000 allocation for the Anclote Key Lighthouse, which had been approved by the Florida legislature, has been vetoed by Governor Jeb Bush. This money was to have been used to stabilize and paint the tower, but this setback has not dampened the spirits of local preservationists.

Anclote Key Lighthouse was originally a relatively minor coastal light when it was built in 1887, but around 20 years later it gained in importance when Tarpon Springs became the world’s leading sponge center. After harvesting sponges from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, mariners on sponging vessels used the light as a guide into the Anclote River and on to the Tarpon Springs Sponge Exchange.

According to the National Park Service, Anclote Key Lighthouse is the sixth oldest standing lighthouse that was built using skeletal, tubular, cast iron construction. Towers of this type were built in a number of locations where shifting sand or mud meant that the lighthouse might have to be moved, as the Cape San Blas Lighthouse was in 1919. The open skeletal framework also allowed hurricane-force winds to pass right through the structure.

James Gardner was the first keeper on Anclote Key. A principal keeper and two assistant keepers lived at the station in two nearly identical keeper’s houses. The keeper’s houses are now gone; only an oil house and cistern remain along with the lighthouse tower. A keeper once kept pigs on the island but crews on Cuban boats stole the animals. Mosquitos were so numerous that on occasion the keepers couldn’t work outside.

Anclote Key Light Station was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1984 and much deterioration and vandalism followed. The 180-acre island and the lighthouse property were eventually transferred to Florida State Parks. Anclote Key Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1999.

Lary and Pat McSparren were the original driving force that started the efforts to save Anclote Key Lighthouse. Three groups — the Gulf Islands GEOPark, which manages the lighthouse, the Gulf Islands Alliance Citizens Support Organization (CSO), and the Tarpon Springs Historical Society — are together trying to fully restore this 113-year-old structure and surrounding grounds. The Tampa Bay Harbour Lights Collectors Club has adopted this project and three individuals have volunteered to co-chair a Re-Light the Light committee for the CSO.

There was a setback in 1998 when someone made off with tons of bricks from a walkway, the oil house and the remains of the two keepers quarters. The brick thieves apparently used a wheelbarrow for their crime. They even took materials from the remaining structures to build a bridge over a wet area near the lighthouse, causing further damage to the site.

A new dock has been completed and the reconstruction of the first keepers’ house is in the final planning stages. The next step will be to stabilize and restore the tower. The remaining buildings and grounds work will follow as funds are available. Everyone involved with the project is very excited about the future of the Anclote Key Lighthouse.

Donations can be sent to: Gulf Islands Alliance, #1 Causeway Blvd, Dunedin, FL 34698. Checks should be made out to the Gulf Islands Alliance. Be sure to designate it for the Lighthouse Fund.

You may contact any of these individuals for additional information:

Toby Brewer, Park Ranger for Anclote Key: (727) 469-5943

Perry Smith, Gulf Islands GEOPark Manager: (727) 469-5943

Lary McSparren, President, Gulf Islands Alliance

CSO (727) 934-2389

Co-Chairmen of the Re-Light the Light Committee of the

Gulf Islands Alliance:

Wayne Hawes (813) 968-5640, or email: whawes1@tampabay.rr.com

Mike Hancock: (727) 572-5063

Dick “Rip” Puls (813) 949-6203

Gulf Islands Alliance website: www.gulfislands.org

For information on visiting Anclote Key State Preserve, contact Anclote Key State Preserve, c/o Gulf Islands GEOpark, #1 Causeway Blvd., Dunedin, FL 34698, or call (727) 469-5942.

This story appeared in the February 2001 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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