Road Trip Endeavour-Day 4-St. Johns River Lighthouse

location-Mayport, FL

built-1835

deactivated-1929

stamp-no

players-Jen, John, Lincoln, Spencer and Jackson

It's Day 4 of Road Trip Endeavour and we just crossed the Florida state line!  WOO HOO!!  (We've already had such fun adventures and we haven't even made it to Florida yet.)  So, naturally the first place we have to stop is a lighthouse.  

We visited the quaint little fishing village, called  Mayport Village.  It's at the mouth of the St. Johns River.  There are actually two lighthouses in Mayport Village, but they are both located in Naval Station Mayport.  Since 9/11 access to the naval station is only granted with military ID.
The lighthouse we were able to see is called St. Johns River Lighthouse.  This is actually the third lighthouse in this location.  The first was built in 1830 and only lasted five years.  It had to be torn down and a newer stronger one was built the same year.  The second accumulated so many sand dunes in front of it that by the 1950's it wasn't even visible by water.  The third and final one is still in pretty good condition.  Although, when they built the runway for the naval station about twenty feet of it got buried in the construction.  In 1929, it was lights out for the St. Johns River Lighthouse.  It was replaced by a lightship.
The other lighthouse on the grounds is called St. Johns Light.  This light was built in 1954 and is still active.  Since, access to the base is not allowed to civilians, it doesn't look like the Stewart family will be able to see this one.  hmmmm.......maybe we need a big boat.......

how cute is this sign?

Obviously, we weren't allowed on the base.  So, we parked in front of the fence for some pics.  While we were there, we met a Mayporter that was hanging up signs for a festival the town was having.  He was a fisherman from a long line of former fisherman.  He told us about the plight of Mayport.  The cruise companies are trying to use the town as a town to dock in.  The residents are soooo against this.  I got the feeling most of the residents have many generations living there.  It is such a cute little town, it would be terrible to see that happen.  We're rooting for ya, Mayport!!!

this shows how close we parked to the fence