Collections

Junior Service League’s Legacy Remains

Jay Smith2023-04-13T16:11:15-04:00March 19th, 2023|

In 1970, a suspicious fire gutted the abandoned Keepers’ House located at the St. Augustine Light Station. The following year, St. Johns County purchased the property from the United States Coast Guard with the intention of demolishing the burned-out shell of the building. Enter the Junior Service League of St. Augustine and the idea of restoring the Keepers’ House as a museum and community center. The women of the JSL literally turned back the bulldozers, [...]

Muskets Added to Wrecked! Exhibit

Jay Smith2023-04-13T15:59:07-04:00March 19th, 2023|

The Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) Conservation team installed a new case in the Wrecked! Exhibit. This new case replaces the Star Waters mannequin and features one of the muskets recovered from the Storm Wreck, the American Revolution-era shipwreck excavated in 2009. Other artifacts associated with the musket including flintlock, flint, shot and even some paper wadding are also featured. The team has recently installed a second musket in the exhibit. The muskets have undergone [...]

Pittee Descendants Visit the Museum

Jay Smith2023-06-30T14:41:30-04:00March 19th, 2023|

The Museum welcomed four descendants of Hezekiah Pittee, the superintendent over the construction of the St. Augustine Lighthouse tower between 1871 and 1874. The descendants made the trip from Tampa for a family member's funeral here and reached out to the Museum. The descendants (pictured to the left) sat down with Jason Titcomb, Chief Curator; Lee Capitano, Retail and Finance Director; and Rick Cain, Museum Operations Director to discuss the family's history at the St. [...]

A Letter to Santa from the St. Augustine Lighthouse

A Letter to Santa from the St. Augustine Lighthouse

Jay Smith2021-12-23T12:29:04-05:00December 22nd, 2021|

This December, the St. Augustine Record republished a series of Letters to Santa printed in the St. Augustine Evening Record from December 1921. Peter Willott, a reporter for the Record, worked with the staff at the St. Augustine Historical Society's Research Library to gather these letters. One of the letters came from little Eloise Malloy, the only daughter of Clarence and Agnes Malloy. Clarence served as the First Assistant Keeper of the St. Augustine Light [...]

Celebrate the end of summer with the Wrecked! Exhibit!

Jay Smith2021-08-30T13:02:48-04:00June 23rd, 2021|

Did you know that the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum's Wrecked! Exhibit is based around a shipwreck from the Revolutionary War? Check out our Director of Archaeology, Chuck Meide, as he gives a tour of the Wrecked! Exhibit. Access to the exhibit is included in general admission. Link to video on Wrecked! Exhibit Above: LAMP archaeologist working on a shipwreck. Above: Field school students actively participate in survey work as part of their training.

PHOTOS: World War II U.S. Coast Guard photos in St. Augustine, Florida

amy.gress2019-08-15T14:09:16-04:00August 15th, 2019|

View historic photos of St. Augustine when it was a US Coast Guard station during World War II (1941-1945).

Updates from the Lab

amy.gress2018-05-01T13:15:43-04:00May 1st, 2018|

While our beautiful new Maritime Archaeology and Education Center (MAEC) was being built, conservation was disassembled and all artifacts were put into a state of monitored wet storage. Taking those items out of storage and getting conservation back on track has been a slow and detailed process. This process requires an inventory and condition analysis of all items, as well as setting up each area of conservation in order for treatments to begin. Though we [...]

Discoveries at the Barracks

Discoveries at the Barracks

amy.gress2018-03-21T16:11:54-04:00March 21st, 2018|

The World War II-era United States Coast Guard (USCG) structure on site is currently being restored after serving as office space for many years at the Museum. The structure was constructed after the US entered into World War II. Before December 1941, the US military was in various stages of mobilization that included increasing military personnel, munitions and equipment. The official telegram that head keeper Daniels received, which initiated a military mobilization plan that [...]

During the season of giving, Junior Service League of St. Augustine donated $9k to St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum

During the season of giving, Junior Service League of St. Augustine donated $9k to St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum

amy.gress2018-01-27T10:35:17-05:00January 27th, 2018|

Donation important now more than ever as WWII Barracks restoration project is delayed and looking for more donors to jumpstart the restoration process this year ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – On December 27th, the outgoing president of the Junior Service League of St. Augustine (JSL), Katey Anderson, presented a check for $9k to the Museum. It is a continuation of a supportive partnership created over thirty-five years ago with the initiation of a “Save the Lighthouse” [...]

American Alliance of Museums Accreditation

American Alliance of Museums Accreditation

amy.gress2017-02-01T08:00:34-05:00February 1st, 2017|

Last year, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum sent in an application to become an accredited museum with the American Alliance of Museums. Our Museum is working toward accreditation with the American Alliance of Museums. The AAM has brought museums together for over a hundred years. They have assisted with the development of standards and best practices, gathering and sharing of knowledge, as well as been a catalyst for museum advocacy. Being [...]

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