Daytona Beach Attractions
Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

At the Southern end of the beach island you will find a town and a waterway that share the same name: Ponce Inlet. Both are dominated by the towering Ponce de Leon Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse (176 feet) in Florida and the second tallest in the United States.

When you climb 203 steps to the top of the red brick tower, you can get a panoramic view of the town of Ponce Inlet, the intracoastal area around it and the Atlantic Ocean -- one of the most beautiful such views along east coastal Florida.

Due to the efforts of the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, the site has been restored after abandonment by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1970 and has been declared a National Historic Landmark. In 1982 the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse was officially reactivated and returned to its original use: A glorious beacon shining over 16 nautical miles, flashing every 10 seconds.

There's more to the site than just the grand tower. The museum and grounds let you step back in time and experience what it was like to live at this remote light station in the 19th century. That's when shipwrecks along the east coast of Florida were increasing at a staggering rate, and the U.S. Lighthouse Board determined that a lighthouse was needed between Saint Augustine and Cape Canaveral.

The board recommended Mosquito Inlet, known for its strong current, shifting sand and gusty wind, as the prime location for the new lighthouse. Construction was finished in 1887. During construction, the structure was shaken by the Charleston earthquake of August 31, 1886, and the resulting cracks can be seen in the lighthouse walls.

All of the original keeper's dwellings and their outbuildings have been preserved and are filled with artifacts and exhibits from lighthouse and maritime history.

A lens exhibit building houses a magnificent, fully restored, first-order Fresnel lens as well as a number of other artifacts. More than 15 feet tall and weighing five tons, the lens guided mariners for more than 130 years before it was removed from the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and restored for Ponce Inlet.

The lighthouse compound also includes a historic, 46-foot tugboat, and a new entrance building that's based on original, 1884 plans for a dwelling that was never built.

Unique gifts and souvenirs are available in the ships store, which carries a wide variety of lighthouse-related merchandise, clothing and artwork.

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. fall and winter and until 9 p.m. from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Adult admission is $5, and children are admitted for $1.50.

Nearby, the 52-acre Lighthouse Point Park features fishing, nature trails, swimming and picnicking. A variety of wildlife calls the park home, including raccoons, possums, skunks, armadillos, shore birds and birds of prey. Lighthouse Point Park is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m, and there is a $3.50 per vehicle admission charge.

Volusia County recently opened a Marine Science Center in the Park, which is open daily.

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