John and Billy Bartram’s 1765 Visit to St. Augustine and the “Old Watchtower” Lighthouse

Billy at the City of St. Augustine Historical Marker near the Yacht Club on Salt Run.
Photo: Sam Carr

Like many places in Northeast Florida, particularly around St. Augustine, amazing historical and natural resources exist. One such place is the St. Augustine Lighthouse, strategically located on Anastasia Island. Based on a 1589 map by an Italian cartographer and explorer, a wooden tower and ‘beacon’ existed on the barrier island, and by 1737, the tower was built to 30 feet and fortified with coquina (a locally mined natural fossilized shell rock) by the Spanish. The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument, the watchtower, and many structures in colonial St. Augustine were constructed of this material.  In the late 1860s, severe beach storm erosion was threatening the first lighthouse. In 1871, construction on a new light tower began about ¼-mile inland during Florida’s reconstruction period following the Civil War. The new tower as we know it today was completed in 1874 at a height of 165 feet. The lightkeeper’s house was added in 1876, and two outbuildings and summer kitchens were added in 1886.  The modern lighthouse still operates today and is a wonderful educational facility.

Some Bartram aficionados (aka Bartramites) may not realize Billy and his father, John, explored the East Florida Territory in 1765-66.  John kept a detailed journal while his son occasionally drew sketches. A side trip exploring coastal St. Augustine and Anastasia Island included a visit to the ‘Old Watchtower’ and the original lighthouse. According to the senior Bartram’s journal notes, he was ill from late October to November 1765. For his affliction, he purged himself (by vomiting) with doses of Glauber’s salts and felt better after such treatments. On October 29, they rowed across the modern-day Matanzas River (Intracoastal Waterway) to Anastasia Island and the Coquina quarries. “They gathered many curious seeds, and Billy found some curious plants.”

John Bartram described a night both father and son lodged in the Old Watchtower: “…having ascended to the top where there is a fine prospect of the dangerous raging seacoast, as far as the sight can extend. This house is to signal the approach of any vessel near the coast by hoisting up a flag to give the town notice and send assistance, which is very often needed, and to give any direction in the night to sailors to avoid dangerous breakers.” By November 5, John was feeling good enough for him and Billy to “…ride by horse, about ten miles out observing evergreens, small pines, and grass savannahs.” They departed the St. Augustine area on December 19, 1765, west-bound for explorations to places like Fort Picolata and the Mt. Royal Indian village upstream in the St. Johns River.