![]() “I learned that the building I lived in nearly burned down in the ’30s. Through his research, he learned about the transition of different lenses used for the lighthouse and gained the names of lighthouse keepers and assistant keepers. It just peeked my interest more and I begun to put together this manuscript,” he said. “I met other people that had interest in lighthouses and gave me pointers on which archives to look at. In 1998, LeBuff released his book “Sanibel Light,” which included a great deal of information about the lighthouse.Īfter becoming a member of the board of Florida Lighthouse Association, representing the Sanibel Lighthouse, LeBuff’s knowledge grew. “I eventually put in a hot water heater because there was a hole in the board,” LeBuff said. LeBuff said the cubicle was still there when he lived there. Until 1923, there were no inside bathrooms, so an outhouse was located on the porch. Between the kitchen and the main part of the building had a storage room. The wing, which was originally a kitchen, was the fifth room. The main part of the house, the square part, consisted of four rooms. We didn’t have any telephones for three years. We drank rain water for the first six years. “It didn’t have any air-conditioning for the first 10 years. “It was rough in the early years,” he said of living on the premise. LeBuff was the last federal employee that lived at the quarters. So, I began to unwind what history I could.” “I was always interested in lighthouses and wanted to learn more. We lived there a little less than 22 years,” LeBuff said. So, my wife, and daughters and I moved in there. That was a condition of my employment, I had to live there. “I moved into the lighthouse quarters in 58. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in 1958, LeBuff had the opportunity to get a real, intimate, inside feel of how the Sanibel Lighthouse operated. I had never seen a skeletal lighthouse like this,” LeBuff said.Īfter being selected for a position at the J.N. I was used to brick and mortar lighthouses. “We walked all the way around the lighthouse of course. He arrived on Sanibel for the first time in December of 1952. “It sounded kind of neat, so I talked Don into coming over Christmas Break to Sanibel,” he said. After asking his friend what it was, he learned, “that’s the Sanibel light.”Ī newbie to Fort Myers, LeBuff quickly learned about Sanibel from two of his classmates, which sparked his curiosity. The two started their trek back to the car in the dark when LeBuff saw a light off to the right and a little bit behind him. “His mother worked for the Shell Factory when it used to be in Bonita Springs before it burned down,” he said. The first time LeBuff saw the Sanibel Lighthouse was in 1952 from Bonita Beach, where he was collecting live shells with a buddy of his for the Shell Factory. The Sanibel Lighthouse was built in 1884. ![]()
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