St. Joseph Point Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

In 1836, the Florida Legislative Council petitioned Congress for the construction of a lighthouse to mark St. Joseph Bay. Congress responded with the necessary funds, and a $10,000 contract was awarded to Winslow Lewis for the construction of a lighthouse on the northern end of the cape near the entrance to the bay. A fifty-foot tower, outfitted with fifteen lamps backed by 16-inch reflectors, was constructed during 1838. Ephraim Andrews activated the light for the first time in early 1839.

The lighthouse wasn’t the only new arrival to St. Joseph in 1838. The Territory of Florida also held its Constitutional Convention there that year to lay the groundwork for its bid at statehood. St. Joseph received much publicity during the month the delegates were in town. Things were looking up for the city. Then, in 1841, a ship arrived in port and introduced yellow fever into the community. In just a matter of weeks, the population of the town was decimated. Two years later, a hurricane, accompanied by a high tidal surge, managed to destroy what remained of the city. Ironically, the city of St. Joseph didn’t survive to see Florida become the 27th state in 1845.

Permission was requested in 1842 to discontinue the St. Joseph Bay Lighthouse “in consequence of the abandonment of the Town of St. Joseph as a place of trade.” The tower however remained active until 1847, when a lighthouse was built at Cape San Blas’ elbow. Keeper Andrews, the light’s one and only keeper, extinguished the light for the last time, and the lantern room and other material were removed to the new lighthouse further south. Andrews might have had a lonely life on the tip of the cape, but his isolation did have one advantage - he didn't contract yellow fever.

For over fifty years, St. Joseph was known as the “City of the Dead,” but people started to return to the area around the turn of the century. Eventually, the city of Port St. Joe would be established roughly two miles north of the site of St. Joseph. With renewed activity in the bay, it was felt that another lighthouse to mark its entrance was merited.

St. Joseph Point Lighthouse Photograph courtesy State Archives of Florida

The new lighthouse was constructed on the mainland at Beacon Hill, opposite the northern tip of the cape, where the St. Joseph Bay Lighthouse had stood. Rather than build a lofty conical tower, a lantern room was mounted on a square watch room atop a hipped-roof keeper’s dwelling. The St. Joseph Point Lighthouse was equipped with a third-order Fresnel lens, and a second beacon was established 600 feet seaward of the lighthouse near the beach. Together, the beacons functioned as range lights, and the lighthouse was known as the St. Joseph Light Range Station or as the Beacon Hill Light.

Charles Lupton with his wife Minnie lived at the station for twenty-six years. Life was not always pleasant or easy. The Luptons had to hire a teacher to live at the station for a few months during the winter to school their children. When supplies were needed to supplement the family garden, they occasionally had to travel over fourteen miles west to the nearest community of Farmdale. By far the worst hardship for the Luptons was the loss of two of their children while they were stationed at the lighthouse.

In 1960, the lighthouse was replaced by a light on a 78-foot iron tower, and the old dwelling was sold into private hands for $300. While the structure was being moved to a farm three miles inland along Overstreet Highway, the lantern room was dropped and destroyed. At its new home, the lighthouse was used first as a dwelling, and then later relegated to serve as a barn. In 1979, nineteen-year-old Danny Raffield purchased the lighthouse and transported it roughly twenty miles south to its new home on St. Joseph Bay. By then, the structure had become known as the traveling lighthouse.

Raffield traveled to other lighthouses and conducted research in Washington, D.C. to assist in his quest to restore his lighthouse and fabricate an authentic lantern room for it. A huge break came when Raffield was put in touch with a Coast Guard officer in New Orleans who had the original blueprints for the St. Joseph Point Light Station, including the lantern room.

After several years of meticulous restoration, the Raffields were able to move into the lighthouse. They enclosed the bottom floor, converting it into a kitchen and living room. A massive spiral iron staircase replaced a wooden set of stairs and forms the spine of the dwelling, connecting all three levels. The Raffields had craftsmen replicate the original lantern room at Raffield Fisheries, and it was finally placed atop the lighthouse on April 14, 2011, capping a restoration effort that spanned forty-three years. "Today is just the icing on the cake. To be able to sit in it means that my dad is happy and for me that's the best part of this day," said the Raffield’s daughter on the day the lantern room was put in place.

Along with the lighthouse, other reminders of the history of St. Joseph still exist. In 1922, a marble monument engraved with the names of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention was erected on a 13.5 acre site on Monument Avenue in Port St. Joe. A museum was later added to the site and opened to the public in 1955.

References

1. Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico, David Cipra, 1997.
2. HGTV special on the St. Joseph Point Lighthouse.
3. "Man Spends 43 Years Restoring Historic Lighthouse," Sandra Osborne, WJHG website.