The Jupiter Inlet Light is located in Jupiter, Florida, on the north side of the Jupiter Inlet. The site for the lighthouse was chosen in 1853. It is located between Cape Canaveral Light and Hillsboro Inlet Light. The lighthouse was designed by then Lieutenant George G. Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers. The Jupiter Inlet silted shut in 1854, forcing all building supplies to be shipped in light boats down the Indian River. Work was interrupted from 1856 to 1858 by the Third Seminole War. The lighthouse was completed in 1860 at a cost of more than $60,000.
The lighthouse was built on an Indian shell mound (midden). The top of the 105-foot (32 m) tower is 146 feet (45 m) above sea level. The light can be seen 25 miles (40 km) at sea.
In 1928 the mineral oil lamps and the weights that turned the lamp were replaced with electrical equipment, and a diesel generator was installed for emergency backup. The Okeechobee Hurricane the same year cut the electric power and damaged the diesel generator, so the keeper reinstalled the oil lamps, and his 16-year old son turned the lamp by hand through the storm. The top of the lighthouse swayed 17 inches during the hurricane.
Jupiter Inlet Light was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
