Alligator Reef Light

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. 2 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1983.

From the record

“Alligator Reef Light is located 4 nautical miles east of Indian Key, near the Matecumbe Keys of Florida in the United States, north of Alligator Reef itself. It was automated in 1963 and was last operational in July, 2014, and is being replaced by a 16' steel structure with a less powerful light located adjacent to it.”
Wikipedia article Alligator Reef Light, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 50 National Register listings published here for Monroe County · listed in 2011 · category: Structure.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
Address. Offshore 3.5 mi. S. of Upper Matecumbe Key, Islamorada
When was it listed? December 2011
Category. structure
Also known as. Light Stations of the United States MPS
National Register reference number. 11000860 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Storms near this property

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Islamorada, the town this property stands in, in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2001: 3 waterspout, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2001	Lightning	Islamorada	1 hurt	Female injured by lightning during a thunderstorm. She was touching a stainless steel counter of the restaurant she worked at when she was struck. She worked at the Islamorada Fish Company.
November 1998	Tornado (F1)	Islamorada	$100,000	A tornado moved ashore from the Straits of Florida into the middle Keys near mile marker 80. It travelled in a northeast direction crossing to the west side of U.S. 1. Damage occurred to the roof of a motel and to trees, fences and power lines.
April 2001	Waterspout	Islamorada	-	Waterspout observed 1/4 mile North of Islamorada
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Islamorada	-	16-foot boat capsized; two fisherman rescued by coastguard; no injuries reported.
September 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Islamorada	-	Minor roof damage to a convienience store. A flagpole was removed from ground.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Islamorada	-	Billboard flattened, power and telephone lines knocked down. Molasses Reef C-MAN station, about 5 miles offshore of Key Largo, measured a 42 knot wind gust at 7:59 pm EDT and a 52 knot gust at 8:59 pm EDT.
August 2000	Waterspout	Islamorada	-	Waterspout observed 1 mile south of Islamorada
September 1999	Waterspout	Islamorada	-	Waterspout occurred 1 mile north of Snake Creek near Islamorada
February 1998	Tornado (F0)	Islamorada	-	Tornado moved from the south across Islamorada near MM 80. Extensive damage to homes and businesses. Widespread tree and vegetation loss.

Every storm recorded in Monroe County

Maps showing this location

2 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1983 USGS Islamorada quadrangle1:100000
1989 USGS Key West quadrangle1:250000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Tres Puentes Shipwreck Site	3.6 miles	2006
SAN PEDRO (shipwreck)	3.6 miles	2001
Herrara Shipwreck Site	4.0 miles	2006
Matecumbe Methodist Church Cemetery	4.4 miles	2021
Florida Keys Memorial	4.5 miles	1995
Matecumbe Methodist Church	4.5 miles	2020

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 11000860 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Monroe County	All 50 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.