Did you know that August 7 is National Lighthouse Day? That was the day in 1789 that the U.S. Congress passed an act to establish and maintain lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers “at the entrance of, or within any bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and safe.” It also commissioned a lighthouse to be built at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of this act, Congress passed a resolution designating 7 August 1989 to be National Lighthouse Day. The resolution was sponsored by Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island. It passed the Senate on 26 July 1988 and the House (sponsored by Representative William J. Hughes of, New Jersey) on 21 October 1988. President Ronald Reagan signed it into law on 5 November 1988. In 2013, Congress passed another resolution to celebrate 7 August 2013 as National Lighthouse Day. Although urged to do so by various lighthouse support groups, Congress has failed to make it an official annual commemoration. However, the day is celebrated at many lighthouses with the help of lighthouse organizations. These celebrations include tours and other activities.

Because it is a peninsula that touches both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, Florida has the longest coastline of the states along the Atlantic seaboard. Its coast is generally low and sandy, which requires tall lighthouses, so there are dozens of high beacons along the Florida coasts. You are sure to find one within a reasonable driving distance. Here is an alphabetical list of these light stations:
1. Alligator Reef, Islamorada
2. Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach
3. American Shoal, Key West
4. Anclote Key, Tarpon Springs
5. Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range, Port Charlotte
6. Cape Canaveral
7. Cape Florida, Key Biscayne
8. Cape San Blas, Port St. Joe
9. Cape St. George, St. George Island
10. Carysfort Reef, Key Largo
11. Cedar Keys (Seahorse Key)
12. Crooked River, Carrabelle
13. Dry Tortugas (Loggerhead Key)
14. Egmont Key, St. Petersburg
15. Fowey Rocks, Miami
16. Garden Key (Fort Jefferson), Dry Tortugas
17. Hillsboro Inlet, Pompano Beach
18. Jupiter Inlet, Jupiter
19. Key Largo
20. Key West
21. Pensacola
22. Ponce de Leon Inlet, Daytona Beach
23. Port Boca Grande (Gasparilla Island), Port Charlotte
24. Sand Key, Key West
25. Sanibel Island, Sanibel
26. Sombrero Key, Marathon
27. St. Augustine
28. St. Johns, Atlantic Beach
29. St. Johns River, Atlantic Beach
30. St. Joseph Point, Apalachicola
31. St. Marks, Tallahassee

If possible, make it a point on the seventh day of August to visit a lighthouse. You will learn some history and, if you climb to the top, will usually get a spectacular, 360-degree view of the surrounding area. Take a photo of your lighthouse and share on social media using #NationalLighthouseDay to post.