Historical Research

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 [...]

Crescent Beach Shipwreck: The Caroline Eddy

Crescent Beach Shipwreck: The Caroline Eddy

Bobby Dye2021-10-11T14:29:11-04:00October 11th, 2021|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBJJirfR2wc (Drone footage courtesy of Eric Wilson, LAMP Volunteer) The entirety of the Crescent Beach Shipwreck Maritime archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum’s research arm, Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP), have documented the entirety of the Crescent Beach Shipwreck site. In November 2020, LAMP was notified of a previously unknown shipwreck that had become exposed on the southern end of Crescent Beach. Local beachgoers noticed the wooden wreckage and posted pictures on [...]

A “Grand” Grand Traverse Lighthouse Christmas

Jay Smith2020-12-16T11:53:25-05:00December 16th, 2020|

There are few accounts of Christmas at the Light Stations across the country. One of these accounts is from Bette McCormick Olli who grew up at Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Her story gives a eyewitness record of how Keepers and their families balanced family life with duty to keeping the light shining. We hope that you enjoy her account and remember that, even today, we have men and women serving across the world sometimes with or [...]

Boat Drawing Winner Takes Home a New Penobscot 13!

Jay Smith2020-12-03T11:02:02-05:00November 30th, 2020|

UPDATE: We have drawn our winner: Sam from Georgia! Congratulations! He will be coming this week to pick up his brand new Penobscot 13! A reminder that we still have a drawing for our strip kayak coming up in 2021! Check out our live drawing that took place on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, at 12:00 Noon: Penobscot 13 Live Drawing on Facebook Live! The faithful crew of Heritage Boatworks has been busy working on their [...]

Dune Erosion Reveals New Shipwreck at Crescent Beach

Jay Smith2020-11-25T18:14:33-05:00November 17th, 2020|

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL – The recent tropical storm helped to uncover the remains of a shipwreck buried under a dune along Crescent Beach. Mark O’Donoghue, a local resident, found the exposed timbers and reached out to the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) Director, Chuck Meide. The LAMP team began inspecting and documenting the shipwreck the same day. After completing the initial survey, the LAMP team determined that the ship is likely an American [...]

Doubly Doomed: World War I and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918

Doubly Doomed: World War I and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918

Jay Smith2020-04-14T12:50:50-04:00April 6th, 2020|

Compiled by James Smith In the closing days of World War I, the world faced one of the worst pandemics of the modern era, the Spanish Flu Pandemic. The term Spanish Flu originated largely because the United States government did not want news of the disease to diminish the war effort, since the conflict was nearly won. World War I ended with the armistice on November 11, 1918. However, Spain remained neutral in the conflict. [...]

Lighthouse Keeper Series: Francis Philip Fatio Dunham

Lighthouse Keeper Series: Francis Philip Fatio Dunham

amy.gress2019-03-18T14:54:12-04:00March 18th, 2019|

By Jay Smith On June 26, 1916, readers of the St. Augustine Evening Record read an entertaining interview with 68 year old Oregon Dunham offering “very interesting reminiscences” from a man “whose remarkable memory…retained so much of what happened in the earlier days.” Dunham recalled significant events in the Oldest City, including the Civil War and some of the local folklore. “Oregon” was a nickname for Francis Philip Fatio Dunham. His mother, Mary, was [...]

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