Darrell and I have enjoyed visiting lighthouses since our first trip to St. Augustine in 1990 but I had never thought about volunteering my time since I didn't live close to one that was open to the public. The following story tells how I came to be a volunteer at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, beginning with my first glimpse of the lighthouse in 1997 to my current status as part of the volunteer team.

In August of 1997, we were lucky enough to be given passes to get onto Cape Canaveral Air Force Station courtesy of a Navy friend who was working there. He got us the key to the lighthouse, and the four of us (me and my husband on the left, our Navy friends on the right) gave ourselves a private tour. Actually there were five of us since the guard who let us onto the base said he'd never been up the tower so he came with us. The original tower was built in 1848 but the current tower which we climbed was built in 1868, facts that are documented on the plaque that is imbedded in the brick at the base of the light. The light was moved due to the fear of beach erosion and was re-erected at its present location in July of 1894.

On the inside of the tower there is a metal staircase that we climbed to the top and the breeze felt wonderful when we got outside onto the walkway. The lens is a modern one now, replacing the original first-order Fresnel lens which sustained a lot of damage from the vibrations of rockets being launched nearby. The original lens is now displayed in the Ayres Davies Lens Exhibit Building at the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse grounds near Daytona.

The views were wonderful at the top, we could see the launch pads in one direction and the ocean all around. We had parked our car next to the old oil house and we got an interesting perspective since it didn't have a roof and we could see inside it from the top. All the original keeper's houses and other outbuildings have been destroyed but pictures of the old compound in the 1950's can be seen on the spaceline.org site.

When we finally climbed back down, we took some more pictures of the front of the light, then drove around to the side to take pictures from there. We drove on closer to the launch pads and got a better look at them. We felt privileged to have been allowed in this lighthouse since it was not open to the general public. A few years after our visit, tighter restrictions were placed on visitors and very few people were allowed to go to the top of the lighthouse due to safety and liability issues. The Coast Guard goes up to maintain the lens and on occasion people associated with the Foundation are allowed to go up but are always escorted.

In October 2003, Dr. Sonny Witt of the 45th Space Wing, and an advisor to the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation, found my website and emailed me about the ongoing restoration projects at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. He offered to escort me to the light if I wanted to take more current pictures and on April 8, 2004, I took him up on that offer.

That "built by numbers" tidbit was only one interesting piece of information that Sonny gave us during our tour of the area. We also heard about the Ais Indians who used to inhabit the land, we saw some of the launchpads, and we even saw a famous resident alligator named Elvis! During the tour, Sonny asked me why I didn't volunteer at the lighthouse. I had joined the Foundation and had informed them of my desire to find out about volunteering, but hadn't heard back from them. Sonny explained that the volunteers "worked" for him and he promptly signed me up to attend the next meeting. I went, met the other volunteers, was given a notebook of information and assigned to the Wednesday timeslot.

Since June of 2004 I've been out there every week and I love it! Anyone badged for the Cape can come visit the lighthouse and be given a tour by one of the voluteers in our group. Some days no one shows up, some days a bus arrives, you just never know, but every day is an adventure and a pleasure. I've taken tons of pictures which can be seen in my four Cape Canaveral Webshots albums: