St. Marks Light
The St. Marks Light at an unknown date.
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| Location | mouth of St. Marks River, on Apalachee Bay, St. Marks, Florida |
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| Coordinates | 30°04′19″N 84°10′48″W / 30.07194°N 84.18000°WCoordinates: 30°04′19″N 84°10′48″W / 30.07194°N 84.18000°W |
| Year first lit | first tower, 1831; second tower, 1842 |
| Automated | 1960 |
| Foundation | stone |
| Construction | brick |
| Tower shape | conical tower |
| Height | originally 65 feet (20 m), extended to 73 feet (22 m) in 1867, light is 82 feet (25 m) above sea level |
| Original lens | fourth order Fresnel lens, replaced by 9.8-inch (250 mm) lens |
| Characteristic | white light occulting every 4 s. |
| Admiralty number | J3300.1 |
| ARLHS number | USA-801 |
| USCG number |
4-0010 |
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St. Marks Lighthouse
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The lighthouse as it appeared in 2013
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| NRHP Reference # | 72000356 |
| Added to NRHP | July 31, 1972 |
4-0010
The St. Marks Light is the second-oldest light station in Florida. It is located on the east side of the mouth of the St. Marks River, on Apalachee Bay.
In the 1820s, the town of St. Marks, Florida was considered an important port of entry. The town served as a port for the prosperous planting region of Middle Florida and some counties of South Georgia. Growers hauled their agricultural products down to the port town in wagons by way of an early road which connected the then territorial capital of Tallahassee to the town of St. Marks. Later, this road would be widened and improved upon by the Tallahassee Railroad Company and would become the state's first railroad.
Once the agricultural products reached the new port town, they were loaded aboard boats for shipment to New Orleans and/or St. Augustine. There were, however, problems in navigating both the Apalachee Bay and the St. Marks River. In many places both bay and river were shallow, and it was not too uncommon for boats to run aground and/or get mired in the muddy shallows.
In 1828, Florida's territorial Governor William Pope Duval wrote a letter to Joseph M. White, a territorial delegate in which he stressed a great need for a lighthouse at the St. Marks location. White, in turn, wrote a letter to New Hampshire Senator Levi Woodbury, who chaired the Senate Committee on Commerce, reiterating the importance of establishing a light at St. Marks. Eleven days later, the committee issued a report which recognized the town of St. Marks as an official port of entry and recommended the building of a lighthouse in the area. On May 23, 1828, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an act which authorized the construction of a lighthouse at St. Marks and appropriated $6,000 for its construction.
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