LIGHTHOUSE OF THE WEEK

Sand Key Lighthouse, Key West, Florida

Those responsible for Sand Key Lighthouse must have skipped out on their Sunday School classes, for they definitely missed the valuable lesson taught in the Sermon on the Mount that it was a “foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” This lesson was demonstrated over and over again on Sand Key, as three dwellings, one lighthouse, and numerous wharves, privies, and outbuildings were lost to the power of wind and water.



Sand Key is situated next to a channel that leads to Key West, located roughly eight miles to the northwest. In normal conditions, a significant amount of sand accumulates on the submerged reefs at Sand Key, creating a small island. Soon after the United States took possession of Florida in 1821, a wooden daymark was placed on the island to warn mariners of this nearly hidden threat to navigation.

Lighthouses to mark Florida’s reefs had just recently been completed at Cape Florida, Key West, and the Dry Tortugas, when Congress allocated $16,000 on May 18, 1826 for a lighthouse on Sand Key. The plans for this tower were similar to those used for the other three, calling for a seventy-foot, conical brick tower exhibiting a light from eleven lamps set in fourteen-inch reflectors. Sand Key’s light revolved, producing a flashing signature that differentiated it from the nearby fixed light at Key West.

The first keeper of Sand Key Lighthouse was slated to be Joseph Ximenez. However, Keeper John Flaherty and his wife Rebecca were having a terrible time adjusting to their isolated life in the Dry Tortugas, so the collector of customs at Key West, William Pinkney, arranged for the two keepers to trade assignments. Shortly after the Flahertys arrived on the island, Sand Key Light was exhibited for the first time on April 15, 1827. With fishermen, wreckers, and picnickers from Key West frequenting the island, the Flahertys thoroughly enjoyed their new social life. Their joy, however, was short-lived as John fell ill in May 1828 and passed away in 1830. Rebecca remained on the island and was appointed keeper after her husband’s death.

In June 1831, William Randolph Hackley, an attorney in Key West, recorded the following account of a visit he made to Sand Key Lighthouse: “The wind was so light that we did not get to the key until 12…I went up to the lighthouse. The light is revolving and is one of the best in the United States. It is kept by Mrs. Flaherty…She, with her sister and a hired man, are the only inhabitants of the key and sometimes there are none but the two females…The length of the key is from 150 to 200 yards and the average breadth 50 … [We] remained till evening and, having spent a pleasant day, returned to town at 8:00 P.M.”

The November 22, 1834 edition of The Florida Herald reported on a wedding at Sand Key Lighthouse; Rebecca Flaherty had married Captain Fredrick Neill. The newlyweds took a lengthy trip the next year to visit family, while a temporary keeper watched the light. Upon their return, Captain Neill was appointed keeper and served in this role until his resignation on February 10, 1836.