The Mayport lighthouse stands inside a fence at Naval Station Mayport. | Mayport Lighthouse Association
Published on February 5, 2025 at 3:58 pm
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A local lighthouse preservation organization is looking to fix up and move a 166-year-old tower of maritime history in Northeast Florida.
The nonprofit Mayport Lighthouse Association is behind the move to preserve the historic St. Johns River Lighthouse.
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First lighted Jan. 1, 1859, the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1929 and its last restoration was in the early 1980s.
Right now, it sits on Naval Station Mayport. The association wants to move the lighthouse a half-mile to nearby Mayport Village to make it more accessible to the public.
This week, the association received a letter of support from the city of Jacksonville. Council member Chris Miller called it a “wonderful project” during a committee meeting Feb. 3. “It’s going to go a long way in revitalizing Mayport,” Miller said.
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“That lighthouse, eventually if everything lines up, (will be) moved off of the base and right on the water side, on city property. And there are a few options there. Hopefully the study all checks out and we get what we need from the Navy, which we’re on track, I believe.”
The navy owns the lighthouse. After discussions with the base’s commanding officer, Mayport Lighthouse Association Vice President Elizabeth Boggs said they agreed the best option was to move the lighthouse from where it’s sandwiched between a hangar and an airfield runway, to Mayport Village near the St. John’s Ferry, on vacant land owned by the city of Jacksonville.
“We’d like to restore the lighthouse so people would be able to climb to the top of it and be able to enjoy the views of the St. Johns River and the area there from the top of the gallery,” Boggs said.
With letters of support from the city and Navy base, the Lighthouse Association can now apply for grants with the U.S. Lighthouse Society and Florida Lighthouse Association to cover the cost of a feasibility study.
After transfer ownership of the lighthouse from the Navy to the association, fundraising should start for the move. The association already has proposals from ICC Commonwealth.
Formerly “International Chimney,” ICC Commonwealth has a historic preservation division with experience moving lighthouses, including a 200-foot-tall lighthouse in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
The Mayport lighthouse is 81 feet tall. To add to the complex moving process, its foundation goes 8 to 10 feet underground.
The lighthouse was put in by the Navy when they built the airfield before World War II on what was previously swampland.
