Location | southwest of Key West, Florida |
---|---|
Coordinates | 24°27′14″N 81°52′39″W / 24.45389°N 81.87750°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1827 |
Foundation | cast iron screw piling |
Construction | cast iron |
Automated | 1938 |
Shape | square pyramidal skeletal tower |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place |
Racon | "N" (— ∘) |
Light | |
First lit | 1853 |
Deactivated | 2015 |
Focal height | 109 feet (33 m) |
Lens | first order Fresnel lens |
Range | White 14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi), Red 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) |
Characteristic | Flashing (2) white 15s with red sectors |
Sand Key Lighthouse | |
Area | less than one acre |
Architect | J.W.P. Lewis, John F. Riley Ironworks |
Architectural style | Iron Screw Pile Lighthouse |
NRHP reference No. | 73000589[1] |
Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 |
Sand Key Light is a lighthouse 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) southwest of Key West, Florida, between Sand Key Channel and Rock Key Channel, two of the channels into Key West, on a reef intermittently covered by sand.[2][3][4] At times the key has been substantial enough to have trees, and in 1900 nine to twelve thousand terns nested on the island. At other times the island has been washed away completely.[5] The light marks the southernmost point of the Hawk Channel passage along the Florida Keys.[6]