Last Saturday I put on my Adventure Girl Pants and drove up to Ponce Inlet to see and climb the tallest lighthouse in Florida, aptly named the Ponce Inlet Light Station (sometimes simplicity really is best in naming things.)
Ponce Inlet was completed in 1887, and sports a 203-step climb to the top in a tight spiral staircase, which is most decidedly built for one-way traffic. Happily there are landings between “floors” where people can stand aside and let traffic pass before proceeding.
The view of the staircase from ground level looking up. Dizzy time, baby!
I DID make it to the top, in case you are wondering, and paid the price for a few days with super sore leg muscles, although I am happy to report my muscles have fully recovered! :-)
My fellow climbers were of all ages, including an 81-year old grandmother, and a young mom with babe in arms. I don’t know how she managed the last flight of steps with the baby, as those were extremely steep! She was extremely brave, or perhaps crazy.
At the top, I was treated to a glorious view! The weather was perfect and I could see for miles! The ocean was a magnificent shade of blue and I loved looking at the colorful homes and businesses around the beach. You can see some of the pictures below:
Doesn't that water look amazing?
This is the actual light currently in use at Ponce Inlet. We weren't allowed into the lantern room because the lighthouse is still an active aid to navigation, according to the sign below:
The Light Keeper's Evening Duty Routine, from January 1, 1870
After several minutes savoring the view, it was time to leave the high perch (alas) and descend back to ground level. It’s much quicker going down because you have gravity on your side. ;-) Upon exiting the lighthouse there was a smattering of applause from various people who were waiting on their loved ones to descend and were happy to see them arrive safely on foot, and not all of a sudden, if you get my meaning.
At this time I went on to explore the grounds. There were the homes of the first watch keeper, and the second watch keeper, made into museums with historical artifacts from back in the day, as well as a building dedicated to the lenses used in the lighthouse from the past and present, and a couple of other structures whose names elude me at the moment.
I took over 500 pictures, though, (it’s a sickness, I think), so it’s well-documented. Below is a Kedge anchor from circa 1830-1860.
On my way out, I took a mini stroll through the natural wooded area near the grounds. Some of the trees I saw would make for great a Halloween movie set. Very spooky!
Spooky trees. Oooo!
Coming out of the woods I saw the cat cemetery that contains the remains of five of the previous lighthouse cats through the years. The current lighthouse cat is named Nelly, and you can see her lovely portrait below. They adore Nelly there, and she even has her own line of merchandise in the gift shop! I purchased an “I ♥ Lighthouses” bumper sticker, and a lovely mermaid wall sculpture (shown below).
The lovely reigning lighthouse cat, Queen Nelly (well, I call her Queen), and, really, would any cat have it any other way?
Queen Nelly's predecessors
In all, I spent about three hours touring the lighthouse and grounds. It's one of those really neat day trips outside of Orlando that most tourists, unless they are lighthouse enthusiasts, don't know about. Admission is only $5, and you get a snazzy lighthouse bracelet as a souvenir (wink, wink), and an interesting history lesson of what life was like for the light keepers. I know they had to be physically fit. The lamp oil weighed about 40 pounds, and someone had to climb all 203 steps up every night with it. Impressed? Yeah, me, too!
My snazzy lighthouse bracelet souvenir, lol. I know you're jealous. ;-)
I'm afraid that wraps up my mini tour of the Ponce Inlet Light Station. There was a lot I didn't get into because I figured you might want to get on with your life right about now. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and if you get the chance, be sure to make the trip to see this lighthouse in person. It's worth the price of admission, and more! (No, I am not being paid to write this, lol.)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment