Things to do nearEgmont Key Lighthouse

The Egmont Key Lighthouse has marked the entrance to Tampa Bay for over 160 years, making it one of the oldest surviving structures on Florida's Gulf Coast. The original lighthouse was built in 1848 but destroyed by a hurricane just a few years later. The current brick tower, completed in 1858, has weathered storms, wars, and decades of salt air to remain standing as a working aid to navigation managed by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The island itself carries deep historical layers. During the Civil War, Union forces occupied Egmont Key and used it as a base of operations. Later, the ruins of Fort Dade, a Spanish-American War-era military installation, still dot the island, with crumbling concrete batteries slowly being reclaimed by vegetation and tidal erosion.

Access is only by water, which keeps the experience intimate. The island falls within Egmont Key State Park, and visitors can walk the old military roads, swim in calm nearshore waters, and watch for loggerhead sea turtles nesting along the beach in summer. Snorkeling around the submerged ruins offshore is a popular draw.

For anyone drawn to layered history, wildlife, and the quiet drama of a lighthouse rising from a remote Florida island, Egmont Key Lighthouse rewards the effort it takes to reach it.