Keepers' House Under Construction

Burned House

The Lightkeepers' House

The lightkeepers' house, completed in 1876, was a duplex with up to three lightkeepers and their families living in it at any one time. In the Victorian Era, the head keeper lived on the north side of the house, the first assistant on the south side and the second assistant had two small rooms on the top floor between the two sides. The bedrooms were upstairs and the ground floor had a dining room on the west side and a parlor on the east. The keepers stored the supplies needed to run the light station in the basement.

The house underwent many changes with the times and the families who lived there. The summer kitchens were added in 1888. Indoor plumbing finally came to the light station in 1907. In 1925, the keepers' house had electric lights installed, eleven years before the tower received electricity. With electrification, the job of second assistant was eliminated and only two keepers and their families lived in the house. Finally, with automation, the last of the keepers left the house and the US Coast Guard temporarily rented it to the highest bidder.

In the late 1960s, the lightkeepers' house was boarded up and declared surplus property. The federal government put the building and its grounds up for sale. While negotiations were in progress with St. Johns County, tragedy struck the building. In 1970, the lightkeepers' house became the victim of arson. The fire completely gutted the interior and left the brick exterior with smoke and soot damage. The price for the structure dropped and the county purchased it for $29,000. After a massive restoration project by the Junior Service League of St. Augustine, the house reopened as a museum. Today, the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, Inc. leases the house and its surrounding grounds from the county.