Northwest Passage Light
Sept. 24, 2019
Northwest Passage Light, eight miles from Key West, Florida
Northwest Passage Light, eight miles from Key West, Florida
Screwpile style lighthouse built in 1838.
NORTHWEST PASSAGE LIGHT (KEY WEST)
Location: APPROACH TO KEY WEST, GULF OF MEXICO, KEY WEST FLORIDA, IN 4 FEET OF WATER, ON THE WESTERLY SIDE OF THE NORTHERLY END OF NORTHWEST CHANNEL TO KEY WEST HARBOR
Station Established: 1838
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1879
Operational? NO
Automated? 1911
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: IRON PILINGS
Construction Materials: WOOD FRAME
Tower Shape: SQUARE COTTAGE WITH LATTERN ON TOP
Markings/Pattern:
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER FRESNEL
Historical Information:
- The Northwest Passage Light was located on the northwest channel at the entrance of the Key West Harbor. A lightship was stationed there in 1838.
- The Great Havana Hurricane ripped through the area in 1846 destroying the Sand Key and Key West Lighthouses. It is not known the fate of the lightship.
- Money was appropriated to build a lighthouse on the site. The lighthouse was completed in 1855.
- The lighthouse was fitted with a fifth order Fresnel lens. That lens was replaced with a fourth order lens after the Civil War. In 1879 the original lighthouse was replaced with a screwpile type structure on the original iron pilings.
- The light was automated in 1911. It is unknown when the light was deactivated. The structure burned 1971 leaving only the pilings.