Saints and Sinners
Lighthouse keeping was a family affair. Wives, daughters and sons sometimes fulfilled the duties of a light keeper without pay. Wives and daughters filled in when the light keeper was absent or died. Both of St. Augustine’s female light keepers fulfilled the role of light keeper after the death of their spouses.
Not every act at St. Augustine Lighthouse was so heroic.
Cardell “Cracker” Daniels, the son of the St. Augustine Lighthouse Keeper, was a prankster. He once parachuted his sister's cat from the top of the tower. The cat survived and went into hiding for months. His father Cardell D. Daniels served 1935-1943.
In 1986, a 14 year old was responsible for the lens being out of commission. He used a rifle to shatter 19 prisms of the Fresnel lens.
