Date announced for Lighthouse Beach to reopen

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:

Sanibel Island is announcing that Lighthouse Beach will be open to the public.

The announcement was made by Mayor Richard Johnson on Tuesday.

Lighthouse Beach is the last of the Island’s public beaches to reopen. After Ian, the lighthouse lost a leg but still stood strong.

“Whether it’s a rainy day or a sunny day, sunrise, sunset, midday, I’ve got to see the lighthouse,” said John Lai, president of the Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce. “It’s the first thing I look for when I come over the bridge, and I don’t think that’ll ever change. I hope that my kids do the same thing.”

The lighthouse has been a symbol of Sanibel since people first moved here. Betty Anholt, a Sanibel historian, said the Island’s first settlers were the lighthouse keeper and his assistant.

“The last lighthouse keeper was Bob England. And he was a coast guardsman,” Anholt said. “Things had been automated at that point. Pretty much they were running on acetylene gas, and then later it was electrified.”

Once a light navigating captains around the island, now a beacon of light for the community.

Rumors that the structure had been lost entirely to Ian hit everyone hard.

“It was concerning, very concerning, and relief that it was there. It was terribly sad to see that the lighthouse quarters and the oil house were gone because they too were built at the same time.” Anholt said.

Ian wasn’t the first storm the oldest buildings faced, but it was the first storm to cause damage.

“In 1944, people actually used it as a refuge from the 1944 hurricane. There were about 40 people that sat on the stairs overnight as the storm went through,” Anholt said.

After the dust settled and neighbors saw the lighthouse still standing — the tallest structure on the island — it was a relief with a deeper meaning.

“The fact that the leg was missing, and yet it was still standing was very symbolic to the community, right? It was broken, but it didn’t fall, and we believe that we’ve drawn a lot of strength from that,” Anholt said.

You won’t be able to drive down to the lighthouse like in the past, but you can walk right up to the fence where construction is restoring the leg.

The fishing pier is not yet rebuilt, but the city will eventually determine when that gets done.

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