St. Augustine is a time capsule into American history. Originally home to the Timucua people, the Spanish colonized St. Augustine in 1565. While indigenous Americans had lived in this region for generations before the Spanish arrived, the beach town remains the oldest living European settlement in the mainland United States. One of the most popular historical attractions is the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which was also home to Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu, the first Latina woman to command a federal shore installation and the third female lighthouse keeper in Florida.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse

Long before Andreu’s birth in 1801, the lighthouse stood as an icon of St. Augustine’s history and architecture. This site, also called the Old Spanish Tower, was built at the site of a 16th-century wooden Spanish tower. The Spanish then converted the wooden tower into a stone structure. Shortly after the United States acquired Florida in 1822, the watchtower took on its third and final role when it was officially upgraded into a lighthouse in 1824.

Andreu was of Minorcan heritage, as were many other Florida residents in her lifetime. (Minorca is a Mediterranean island off the coast of mainland Spain.) Maria Andreu lived in and served the Old St. Augustine Lighthouse, which was made of shells and limestone in Florida’s classic coquina style. In many ways, this lighthouse resembled its original watchtower more than a lighthouse. It had a rectangular shape instead of the octagonal base that many lighthouses have today.

In 1822, she married Joseph Andreu, two years before the Old St. Augustine Lighthouse was officially converted from a watchtower. Like many other lighthouse keepers’ wives, after marriage, Andreu partnered with her husband in tending to the property. When Joseph died after a tragic fall in 1859, Andreu was qualified to take leadership.

Even though many women did not work in government roles during her lifetime, the St. Augustine community trusted her experience. Local newspapers praised her appointment to the job. Even in the months between Joseph’s death and when she was appointed as keeper, Andreu continued to keep the lighthouse lit without formal recognition.

Andreu’s job was demanding. At the time, lighthouse keepers lived on a meager annual salary of around $350. They often balanced their keeper duties and growing their own gardens for food. The light shone in all weather conditions. Andreu had to manually maintain this light by carrying heavy buckets of lard oil up hundreds of steps in rain and tropical storm winds.

Andreu served as St. Augustine’s lighthouse keeper for three years until the Civil War interrupted. Confederate sympathizers wanted to extinguish the lighthouse to avoid drawing the attention of Union soldiers. The Confederates ordered that the Fresnel lens be removed. When Union forces claimed St. Augustine in 1862, they recovered the lens, which had been buried. The lighthouse was restored to working order and relit in 1867. After this victory, the last few years of Andreu’s life are harder to trace, though historians believe that she spent the rest of her life with her family in Georgia.

The Coast Guard officially formed in 1915 and, years later, they honored Maria Andreu and other lighthouse keepers as members. Maria’s recognition also validated the work of many other women across the country who had long played an important role in helping run lighthouses, such as the spouses and family members of male keepers who helped with maintenance and emergency support.