The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum offers four broad experiences centered on the lighthouse, maritime history, preservation, archaeology, and local industry. The Visitors' Center includes admissions, specialty tour tickets, a gift shop featuring local art and other merchandise, and the restoration story of how the Junior Service League of St. Augustine began a grassroots effort to restore the tower and Keepers' House for future generations. The Exploration Zone includes Eliza and CD's Little Keeper Club for children under 44 inches and Maritime Hammock Trails, where visitors can follow a quest through the natural area to identify plant and animal species and learn how keepers' families used them in daily life. The Victorian Light Station features the St. Augustine Lighthouse, where eight landings and story panels accompany the climb of 219 steps and provide views of historic St. Augustine and the Atlantic Ocean; the Oil Room and Keepers' Office, with objects used by lighthouse keepers and a 20-pound oil bucket; and the 1876 Keepers' House exhibits, which include the Harn family story, William Harn's Civil War service as a Union artillery captain, a hands-on shipwreck archaeology lab connected to a wreck found offshore of St. Augustine that tells of British East Florida at the end of the American Revolutionary War, and exhibits on the Northeast Florida shrimping industry. The Keepers' Front Lawn includes views of the 1876 Keepers' House and a memorial bell dedicated to U.S. Coast Guardsmen lost in a helicopter accident in 1990 and to Steve Senecal, who was lost at sea. The Maritime Heritage Park includes Heritage Boatworks, where volunteer boatbuilders build small wooden watercraft using regional historical designs and techniques; a World War II-era garage with photographs and memorabilia of St. Augustine and information on the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in town; a World War II-themed eatery; the 1940s U.S. Coast Guard barracks, used after lighthouse operations were taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939 and now housing a World War II-era exhibit; the Maritime Center's "Legends of the Light," presenting lighthouse stories from 1737 to 1955; and a conservation lab where shipwreck artifacts can be seen being conserved.
