Biscayne National Park has reopened the historic Boca Chita Key Lighthouse to visitors after more than two years of closure for major repairs and restoration work.
The ornamental lighthouse, built in 1938, sits on Boca Chita Key and remains one of the park’s most recognizable destinations. Park leaders said the reopening restores public access to the top of the structure and its sweeping views across the water toward the Miami skyline.
The lighthouse work was part of a larger effort to document, repair, and preserve the lighthouse and the surrounding historic district. The island’s buildings and landscape were constructed as part of a private retreat built by industrialist Mark Honeywell between 1937 and 1945, reflecting the rapid growth of the Miami area during that era.
The Boca Chita Key Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The park said much of the island remains preserved as it was in the 1940s.
Restoration work addressed deferred maintenance and storm damage tied to Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Ian in 2022. Since 2017, the park has completed more than four dozen projects on the island.
For mason contractors and restoration crews, the lighthouse scope reads like a familiar historic masonry package. It included replacing corroded ironwork such as safety railings, completing masonry repairs, installing new windows and doors, and performing lead abatement.
Contractor takeaways from the project scope:
Documentation and existing-condition work drives the repair plan on historic sites.
Metalwork, openings, and masonry repairs tie together, so sequencing and access planning matter.
Historic sites require standards-based decision-making, and the park said all repairs complied with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
The park credited a mix of local staff, National Park Service specialists, and private-sector support for completing the work.
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