After we had visited the Little White House, we toured the Key West lighthouse and the keeper’s quarters. The waters off the Keys ere extremely treacherous and many ships floundered on the shoals and sand bars necessitating a lighthouse. One of the most lucrative businesses in the early 1800’s was ‘wrecking’, salvaging goods from all the ships that had run aground on the sand bars and reefs surrounding the Keys. This industry along with the cigar making industry which began in the mid 1800’s and the original fishing and sponging made Key West the wealthiest town per capita in the US. Imagine that - wealthier than New York, wealthier than Philadelphia.
The first lighthouse keeper was Michael Mabrity who first lit the wick on January 13, 1826. His wife was the assistant keeper and, when Mr. Mabrity died of yellow fever, a common disease in tropical climates, in 1832, his wife Barbara took over as head keeper. As a single mother of 6 children, she took over the job of lighthouse keeper and continued to live in the house next to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse rode out the hurricanes in 1835, 1841, and in 1842 but it was destroyed by the great hurricane of 1845. Sadly, a number of local residents had taken refuge there, hoping to ride out the storm within its solid protective walls. However, the hurricane had other ideas and 14 people perished. 6 of these were the children of Barbara Mabrity. Nothing but sand occupied the site of the lighthouse after the storm. A new lighthouse which was immediately started in 1847 but not finished until 1849 when Barbara Mabity resumed her duties as the lighthouse keeper.
The lighthouse remained in Union hands during the Civil War. However, Mabrity, 82 at the time of the Civil War and an avowed Confederate, she lost her position after allegedly making comments against the Union. She had served 32 years as the lighthouse keeper.
We toured the home and I particularly liked this sewing machine. I cannot imagine making clothes for a family of 6 on this. I had to take this picture from the doorway.
The Key West Lighthouse remained in operation until 1969, when it was declared obsolete and deactivated. The tower was transferred to Monroe County in 1972 and subsequently leased to the Key West Art & Society. The organization has since restored both the lighthouse and the adjacent keeper's cottage. Both are now open to the public.
We climbed to the top of the 92’ high lighthouse and took in the 360 views of Key West surrounded by ocean from the top. Looks like two cruise ships in Key West today. They’ve got beautiful weather for their time here.
Now, if you’ve got good eyes, you’ve noticed that large hump in the background and you’re probably wondering how in the world a mountain got out to Key West which is flatter than a pancake. And, if you think hard, you will be able to guess - yep, it’s a man-made mountain - full of trash. .
Next we toured the home for the lighthouse keepers and saw some original furniture.
Of course, when one travels in Key West, one can’t help but notice the roosters. All over, even challenging the ibis for space in the lighthouse keepers yard. They are certainly colorful and I understand that they come from all the chickens that the Spanish brought over and raised.
Here’s a particularly nice looking one.
A walk around the waterfront in Key West followed. There are always interesting things to see here. Ya just gotta go with the flow.
There were two cruise ships in, one of them is a Disney cruise liner - it’s got to be the biggest one I’ve ever seen. Again, welcome to Key West Country Girl. Lots of shops selling things to the cruisers.
Dinner - Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville with a Cheeseburger in Paradise. We usually do not eat a big dinner at night, we usually do not eat hamburgers and fries but tonight we ate dinner out and had hamburgers and fries.
Shades of the past. The music playing was pretty loud - of course, this is a bar, but we enjoyed the selection of songs: lots of Jimmy Buffett, some Eric Clapton but then we heard- Dusty Springfield and ‘Preacher Man.’ How did this get into the mix? How does this relate to Trop Rock?
And, of course, we stayed for the traditional Key West Sunset.
Hmmm, I think we need to work on our selfie skills.
We left full and ready to head back to the RV. I asked Gary if Valentines Day was all he expected - he said he expected very little - I then thought it had been all he expected and more. Whatever.
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