MIAMI — It took 51 years of pleading — “We need a navigational aid” — to get a lighthouse built on Sanibel.
That was 138 years ago.
But in 1884, a 104-foot-high iron lighthouse rose above the waters on the Gulf Coast, and 90 years later, in 1974, the lighthouse and its quarters made it into the National Register of Historic Places.
Then came Sept. 28, 2022.
How long will it take until the damage from Hurricane Ian can be repaired so that the lighthouse stands on all its legs again?
That could take awhile, experts say.
The lighthouse survived the storm surge and winds, The Weather Channel and others have reported. But its keeper quarters, along with one of its four legs and the foundation that served as a bed to to its ground-level stairs, were swept away — one of many Sanibel landmarks that now need mending.
One piece has returned: the missing leg.
The broken leg was recovered in three pieces, Celina Kersh, president of the Sanibel Historical Museum and Village, told Gulf Shore Business.
Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith told the Miami Herald the leg and additional parts were found on the lighthouse site under about three feet of sand. “I actually saw those parts today along with the original survey marker which was also unearthed,” Smith said on Thursday in an email.
“The Coast Guard was there a couple of days ago as it’s their part to get the light going again,” Smith said, also noting that an engineer had been out to look at the structural integrity of the standing lighthouse.
Sanibel officials have hired a structural engineer to assess the damages and the process to repair the leg and surrounding portions of the lighthouse are a priority, Gulf Shore Business said.
The work will entail a fleet of engineers, experts in lighthouse restoration and the aid of the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard manages the 250-watt light, and that could be restored soon, Gulf Shore reports.
The leg?
That will take longer, as well as restoration work to shore up the damaged lighthouse. The housing quarters have not even been located, so mighty was this storm surge. But the lighthouse itself should one day stand firm.
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