150-year-old Florida Keys Lighthouse Illuminated for 1st Time in a Decade

In this Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, boaters watch a sunset behind Alligator Reef Lighthouse off Islamorada, Fla., in the Florida Keys. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, boaters watch a sunset behind Alligator Reef Lighthouse off Islamorada, Fla., in the Florida Keys. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
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150-year-old Florida Keys Lighthouse Illuminated for 1st Time in a Decade

In this Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, boaters watch a sunset behind Alligator Reef Lighthouse off Islamorada, Fla., in the Florida Keys. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)
In this Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, boaters watch a sunset behind Alligator Reef Lighthouse off Islamorada, Fla., in the Florida Keys. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

A 150-year-old beacon that helped guide ships through the treacherous Florida Keys coral reefs before GPS, sonar and other technology made it obsolete is shining again as part of a national effort to save historic lighthouses that have dotted the US coast for more than a century.
An Islamorada community group that is spending $6 million to restore and preserve the Alligator Reef Lighthouse turned on its new solar-powered lights on Saturday to remind the public about the effort.
“Alligator Lighthouse was lit in 1873 and it stayed lit until about 2013, and then it went dark for 10 years,” said Rob Dixon, the executive director of Save Alligator Lighthouse, which took over the lighthouse's title in late 2021. “And now our Statue of Liberty is lit once again.”
The lighthouse is named after the USS Alligator, a Navy schooner that ran aground on the reef in 1822 and sank.
Alligator and five other aging lighthouses off the Keys were important maritime navigational aids that once warned ships away from the area's barrier coral reef. But modern-day satellite navigation made open-water lighthouses obsolete and such structures are being disposed of by the General Services Association.
A detailed engineering study of Alligator Lighthouse was completed to determine stabilization needs after many years in highly corrosive conditions, The Associated Press reported.
Dixon said an engineering study determined that it will take six years and $5 million to $6 million dollars to save the Alligator Lighthouse.
“There’s nobody in this community that doesn’t want to help our project,” he said.
Dixon said fundraising is well underway with about $500,000 already raised, including $215,000 from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.



Elizabeth Strout, Miranda July are Among Finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Yael Van Der Wouden arrives at the Booker Prize award dinner in London, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (ΑΡ Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
Yael Van Der Wouden arrives at the Booker Prize award dinner in London, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (ΑΡ Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
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Elizabeth Strout, Miranda July are Among Finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Yael Van Der Wouden arrives at the Booker Prize award dinner in London, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (ΑΡ Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
Yael Van Der Wouden arrives at the Booker Prize award dinner in London, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (ΑΡ Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

American authors Elizabeth Strout and Miranda July are among finalists announced Wednesday for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, alongside four debut novelists exploring the search for freedom in different countries and cultures.

Pulitzer Prize winner Strout’s Maine-set mystery novel “Tell Me Everything” and writer'-filmmaker July’s “All Fours,” in which a “semi-famous artist” seeks a new life, are shortlisted for the 30,000 pound ($39,000) prize. It's open to female English-language writers from any country.

The contenders also include Dutch writer Yael van der Wouden’s postwar story “The Safekeep” and German-born poet Aria Aber’s novel “Good Girl,” about a teenager exploring her dual German-Afghan heritage.

Also on the list are Iran-born writer Sanam Mahloudji’s intergenerational family saga “The Persians,” and “Fundamentally” by Britain's Nussaibah Younis, about an academic trying to rehabilitate women caught up with ISIS, The AP news reported.

Author Kit de Waal, who is chairing the panel of judges, said that the six books were “classics of the future” that explored “the importance of human connection.”

“What is surprising and refreshing is to see so much humor, nuance and lightness employed by these novelists to shed light on challenging concepts,” she said.

Previous winners of the fiction prize, founded in 1996, include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Barbara Kingsolver.

Last year, award organizers launched a companion Women’s Prize for Nonfiction to help rectify an imbalance in publishing. In 2022, only 26.5% of nonfiction books reviewed in Britain’s newspapers were by women, and male writers dominated established nonfiction writing prizes.

Winners of both nonfiction and fiction prizes will be announced on June 12 at a ceremony in London.