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American Shoal Light, completed in 1880 on the Florida Reef near the Lower Keys, was the last of the great offshore lighthouses planned to warn ships away from the region’s dangerous reefs. Built of wrought iron on a screw-pile foundation with a skeletal tower and elevated keeper’s dwelling, it was engineered to endure hurricanes and raised its light 109 feet above the sea. Automated in 1963 and deactivated in 2015, it remained an iconic Florida Keys reef light. Its later history included appearance on a U.S. stamp, a 2016 refugee landing, and sale at auction in 2022.
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