Join us in November for an exclusive tour of the Villa Zorayda on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, with two different tour times: 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Members will meet at the Villa Zorayda, check in and then begin their tour using an hand-held audio device. The tour will take roughly 45 minutes to an hour and does include stairs. We will have light refreshments for you following the tour. Each tour group is limited [...]
During World War II, the St. Augustine Light Station served as a United States Coast Guard station. The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum honors that military heritage by opening the Military Honor Plaza featuring commemorative bricks to honor the members of our nation's Armed Forces. On Friday, November 10, 2023, the Museum will host a special ceremony to mark the opening of the Plaza at 10:00 AM. The event is free and open to [...]
Earlier this month, Rick Cain, the Director of Museum Services of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, announced his retirement after over 21 years of service. Rick joined the Museum in 2001 as the Visitor Services Coordinator and Safety Officer. Prior to working at the Museum, Rick worked as a Registered Nurse, training and skills that served him well as the Museum’s Safety Officer. In 2016, Rick was promoted to Director of Museum Services [...]
For over 20 years, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum has hosted summer camps filled with educational, exciting, hands-on learning experiences. Campers learn about their community, its history and culture - including meeting maritime archaeologists who talk about their underwater discoveries, local artists showcasing their talents, and park rangers teaching about the nature around them. This year, camp welcomed over 100 rising first through fifth graders for the five-week program. The feedback from the [...]
As a loving tribute to mothers everywhere, our May's Legacy Program spotlight focuses on the legacy of Rosie Sebastiano. Her children have chosen to celebrate her life with a commemorative brick here at the St Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. Since the Museum was Rosie’s “happy place,” her children know that they can visit and remember her here. We appreciate that they shared their unique story with us: Now we can meet in your favorite [...]
On th at day, our 1st order Fresnel lens was put back into service after being repaired. In 1986, a vandal shot the lens at the top of the Lighthouse tower damaging 19 of the prisms. Beginning in 1980, the Junior Service League led a massive community effort to restore the St. Augustine Light Station. The restoration of the Keepers’ House was completed in 1990 after a disastrous fire in 1970. The League opened the Lighthouse [...]
by Chuck Meide I was just 26, a bright-eyed graduate student at Florida State University, and it was the archaeological project of a lifetime. My friend and colleague David Johnson was a grad student at Texas A&M University. He’d taken a phone call from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an island nation in the extreme southeast of the Caribbean. Better known now, but not then, as the scenic island filmed on location for Disney’s Pirates [...]
Each month we feature a Member Spotlight in our member newsletter giving our members a chance to share why the Museum is important to them and why they value their membership. This month we recognize Kelli McGreevy and Rick Poehlman. Members since 2021, Rick and Kelli were married on the front lawn of the Museum in December 2020! Kelli has been visiting the Lighthouse since she was a child while her dad was stationed at [...]
The Coastal Barracks recently received a new cypress shingled roof. The funding for the project came from the Gene Oakes Grant Program of the Florida Lighthouse Association (FLA). The FLA is a non-profit organization that provides grants to support historic preservation, restoration and educational programs at Florida's light stations. The Coastal Lookout Building was built in 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The building served as the barracks for the United States Coast [...]
Last year, the Museum purchased property as part of an organizational initiative to consolidate operations. The new property offers the Museum a permanent space to expand as well as a new home for our collection of documents and artifacts. The location also means that the building is safer from storms and hurricanes. Since the end of 2022, the Collections and Conservation teams have been working diligently to pack up and move over 20,000 historical artifacts, [...]
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