In modern times, Whitehead Point features the iconic buoy claiming “90 Miles to Cuba, Southernmost Point, Continental U.S.A..” Camera-toting tourists mob the sidewalks and spill into the street, along with concession carts, bike tours, trolley tours, and train tours. Absolutely nothing remains of the 95-foot, whitewashed, conical brick tower, lit with fifteen whale-oil lamps, which once loomed over the spot, though it was the tallest structure on the island at the time. No remnant stands of the keeper’s quarters where the Mabrity family dynasty of lighthouse keepers began.
Key West’s first lighthouse lit up on January 13, 1826, with harbor pilot and mariner Michael Mabrity serving as head keeper, and his wife, Barbara, his assistant. Michael quickly made friends and gained respect in town, earning himself a seat on town council. Wishing to focus on his political career, the Mabritys and their six children took a home close to the center of Key West, hiring a man to live in the keeper’s quarters and tend the lighthouse. The Treasury Department reprimanded Mabrity for his inattention to the light, ordering him back to his post. Still, they raised his salary that year from $400 annually to $600.
When Michael contracted yellow fever and died in 1832, Barbara stayed on as head keeper. Anyone naysaying the ability of a woman to handle such an important task soon fell silent when Barbara kept the lamps burning through hurricanes in 1835, 1841, and 1842, and stood her ground during the Seminole Wars, even when the lighthouse at Cape Florida fell to Indian raids. Barbara kept meticulous records, describing her labor-intensive duties, including trimming the lamp wicks four times nightly, and cleaning the glass every four hours.
On October 10, 1846, a hurricane, having already decimated Cuba, bore down on Key West. Friends and family of Barbara Mabrity sought refuge in the lighthouse—after all, the tower had already stood strong through several big storms. Historians believe the hurricane would have been rated a category 4 if properly measured, and a storm surge drowned the island in five feet of sea water.
The cemetery spit up its graves, tossing human remains into trees. The lighthouse tower collapsed beneath the six-mile-per hour waves, and the keeper’s quarters was completely swept out to sea. Five miles away, the Sand Key Light also collapsed. By the time the storm passed, all but eight of the 600 homes on the island had sustained damage, and many were destroyed outright.
60 Key Westers died in the storm. Rescuers pulled 14 bodies from the wreckage of the lighthouse. Somehow, Barbara Mabrity survived, as did at least one of her children. In fact, Barbara’s daughter, Nicolosa, would later marry the keeper of the Sombrero Lighthouse. Their son grew up to serve as the keeper at the new Key West Lighthouse, and his son would someday serve as assistant keeper.
Surprisingly, Barbara Mabrity resumed her own duties just a year later. She was well into her sixties. The replacement lighthouse would sit further inland, on higher ground, nestled within in a hole carved out of the coral bedrock. The 46-foot brick tower’s light projected over 11 nautical miles. The structure was completed in 1948 at a cost of $7, 247.77.
The indomitable Barbara Mabrity was still head keeper in 1858 when the Fresnel lamp, still in the lighthouse today, arrived from Paris. Mabrity held her position until she was into her eighties. But it wasn’t old age that made Barbara Mabrity finally step down. It was the Civil War.
Key West was the only city in the South controlled by the Union, though many of its citizens were blatantly pro-Confederacy. With all other Florida’s lighthouses turned off in the hands of the Confederacy, Union leaders needed a lighthouse keeper they could trust. Mabrity, loyal to the lighthouse above any political leanings, signed an oath of allegiance to the Union under threat of otherwise losing her job. However, her assistant keepers reported that she spoke out against the Union in private. Mabrity denied the charges and refused to retire, so she was fired after 38 years of service. She died three years later, and her ghost, some say, still haunts the grounds.
Mabrity’s legacy, however, lived on. Her granddaughter, Mary Armanda Fletcher, married the keeper of the Key West Lighthouse. When her husband died of typhoid, Mary took over his position, though she too succumbed to the disease shortly after, and yet another grandchild of Barbara Mabrity, William A Bethel, took over. William’s son, Merrill, also served at the Lighthouse. All in all, the Mabrity dynasty spanned 85 years at the Key West Lighthouse.
By 1887, the keeper’s dwelling was improved to be able to house three keepers as well as their families. Each family had their own rooms and entrances, though they shared a parlor, dining room, and kitchen. In 1894, 40 feet were added to the tower’s height to assure its light shone over the island’s buildings and trees.
The lighthouse was automated in 1915, so keepers were no longer required on the site. Lighthouse superintendent William Demeritt took a liking to the place and moved in, ostensibly to protect the kerosene in the oil house from theft due to shortages during World War I. However, he stayed on even after the war, until the Coast Guard took over all U.S. lighthouses in 1939. Ernest and Pauline Hemingway lived across the street from Demeritt from 1931 until 1939.
According to local folklore, Ernest joked that he often used the lighthouse to find his way home drunk!
The lighthouse remained active until 1969, when Barbara Mabrity’s Great-granddaughter, Jennie Bethel, pulled the switch. Now, thanks to the Key West Art and Historical Society, the lighthouse and the keeper’s quarters serve as a popular museum. Visitors can stroll through the lush grounds, enjoy interactive displays in the keeper’s quarters, and climb 88 iron steps to the top of the lighthouse for an unparalleled view of the Southernmost City.
You’ll see the Key West lighthouse and lots of other historical gems with BeachBunny’s Easy Stroll Through Old Town, Key West.