This is the interior and exterior of the St. Augustine Lighthouse, in St. Augustine Florida. The construction of this navigational aid began in 1871 and finished in 1874. It still shines 142 years later using the original, hand-blown, Fresnel lens, that is a quite impressive nine feet in height. The stair case contains 219 steps, that you can still climb today for a small fee. While we were climbing to the top of the grand old beauty, we encountered a rather sweaty and seemingly out-of-breath elderly lady. Concerned about her current state, I inquired about her ability to continue to the top. She proudly informed me that this was her daily workout, and the first time she climbed the stair case, (over a year ago), she almost did have a heart attack. She thanked me for my concern and kept on climbing! This is also supposedly the most haunted place in St. Augustine. You can take a “Dark of the Moon Ghost Tour” and delve into the current state of the supernatural here. While we didn’t see any ghosts on our visit, my bet is that the ghosts are people that had heart attacks climbing the staircase over the last 142 years.
Eric Blackmore Photography 
I LOVE lighthouses (and ghosts). Thank you Eric. I’m putting this one on my list to visit next time I’m in Fla.
The whole area is fun. A cool couple of days on the beach 🙂
Very nice perspective.
Beautiful pictures and lovely story about the older lady. Maybe I should stop complaining about my knees and start climbing lighthouses too! Haha!
You photographs are so gorgeous though. Such awesome composition skills!
Thank you very much for the kind words! Glad you like my work and stories 🙂