Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

'Ponce Pickets'  11 x 14 oil on gelatin silver print original, $1900.

                                                                                                                                                   

This lighthouse sits on the north side of Ponce Inlet, just south of Daytona Beach, on the barrier island.  Completed in 1887, the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station was built when the area was known as Mosquito Inlet.  In 1897 Stephen Crane (the Red badge of Courage) was en route to cover a brewing revolt against Spanish rule in Cuba, when the ship he was on, the SS Commodore, sank. Crane escaped in a small dinghy with several crewmen. They eventually sighted and steered for the Mosquito Inlet Light. Crane used this experience in his short story The Open Boat. .It is the tallest lighthouse in Florida (at 175 feet, the second tallest in the U.S., after the Cape Hatteras Light in North Carolina, which is 207 feet) and some years ago, I climbed all 192 steps. As you might imagine, the view is spectacular. 

(source, Wikipedia)