BOCA GRANDE LIGHTHOUSE
1890
Boca Grande Beach
Boca Grande, FL
The Boca Grande Lighthouse, also called the Entrance Range Rear Lighthouse, is about a mile north-northwest from the lighthouse at the southern tip of Gasperilla Island. This tall, pyramidal structure with a black lantern 105' above sea level, is higher than the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse in front of it. Lining a vessel up with the lights so that one is directly over the other, the vessel is in mid-channel.
Construction of the structure was completed in 1890, the same year as the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse, but a shifting of the channel later put the lighthouse in the Gulf 50' from the beach. The tower was than moved to a spot 175' from the high-water mark on a range with the outer buoys.
The spiderweb-like structure enables it to withstand the wind and storm tides that kick up from the Gulf. It is the last lighthouse before the one at Egmont Key near St. Petersburg.
Visitors cannot climb the tower stairs to the top, but the base remains one of the most accessible for viewing.
LIGHTHOUSE - 105' / OPEN - Yes / MUSEUM - No / FEE - No