Lesson Title: Florida Lighthouse Geography
Activity: Predict locations of Lighthouses along Florida’s coastlines based on prominent coastal
features on and near the Florida peninsula.
Materials Needed:
1. Coastal Geography Vocabulary Sheet (Attachment #1)
2. Map North Carolina Coast with Lighthouses (Attachment #2)
3. Lighthouse Geography Analysis Sheet (Attachment #3)
4. Student and Master Maps of Florida. (Attachments #4 & 5)
5. Five Themes of Geography Worksheet (Attachment #6)
Time Needed: 1 day per activity (3-4 days for entire unit)
Sunshine State Standards:
1. SS.A.2.2.2: Student understands developments in transportation and communication in
various societies.
2. SS.A.6.2.2: Student understands the influence of geography on the history of Florida.
3. SS.B.1.2.1: Student uses maps, globes, charts, graphs, and other geographic tools
including map keys and symbols to gather and interpret data and to draw conclusions
about physical patterns.
4. SS.B.2.2.2: Student understands how the physical environment supports and constrains
human activities.
Procedures:
Activity #1: Coastal Geography Terms and Identification
1. Distribute Coastal Geography Terms Handout (Attachment #1a).
2. Instruct students to define terms using a dictionary.
3. Review student answers. Using Master Geography Term Sheet (Attachment 1b) as a
reference, draw an example of each on the board and have students copy drawings of
each coastal geographic term in the box provided next to each term.
Activity #2: The Impact of Geography on Emerging Economies
1. Discuss how coastal geography can encourage or discourage the development of maritime
industry in certain geographic locations. Use the Coastal Geography and Maritime
Development information sheet as a guide. (Attachment #2).
2. Using an overhead of a map of the Jacksonville area (Attachment #3), examine the port
city of Jacksonville and identify coastal geographic features that contributed to its
growth as a major maritime center.
3. Hand out Coastal Geography Map (Attachment #4a) to students.
4. Define the term Shipping Lane and identify the principle shipping lanes along Florida’s
coast using a map of Florida (Attachment #4b).
5. Using the map of Florida (Attachment 4a & 4b), examine the coastal geography around
the major Florida port cities of Jacksonville, Cape Canaveral, Miami, Tampa and Pensacola.
Assist students in listing coastal geographic features found near each in the boxes
provided on their maps. Refer to Attachment #4b to complete this activity.
6. Review and discuss how the growth and development of maritime industry in certain
communities along Florida’s coast was directly influenced by the areas’ coastal geography.
Examine the coast of Florida and help students predict where other maritime centers
may be located based on the previously established geographic criteria. Use Attachments
#2 and #4b as a needed.
Activity #3: Geographies Impact on Lighthouse Construction
1. Review coastal geography terms and discuss how each could aid or hinder the safe
passage of vessels traveling along Florida’s coastal shipping lanes.
1. Discuss how ships required assistance in safely navigating in and out of harbors, bays, and
inlets, and around dangerous underwater obstacles such as reefs, islands, and sandbar.
2. Discuss how the majority of Florida’s Lighthouses were built near inlets and bays or close
to dangerous underwater obstacles such as reefs, islands, and sandbars.
3. Using a map of Ponce Inlet (Attachment #5), identify the location of the Ponce Inlet
Lighthouse, the communities of Daytona and New Smyrna which it served, the off-shore
shipping lane used by the maritime industry navigating along Florida’s coast, and the
principle geographic features near the lighthouse that led to its construction.
4. Distribute a Florida Lighthouse Map (Attachment 6a) to each student. Identify the
principle shipping lanes along Florida’s coast and discuss how the possible locations of
each of Florida’s 30 lighthouses can be predicted by examining coastal geography.
5. Instruct students to examine the Florida coast and predict the location of
Florida’s 30 lighthouses on their Florida Lighthouse Map (Attachment #6a) using
the criteria learned in activities 1 & 2. Use the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse as an
example when demonstrating how a lighthouse’s location can be predicted.
6. Compare student predictions with actual location of existing Florida lighthouses using the
Florida Lighthouse Identification Map (Attachment #6a).
Further Enrichment Activity: Assign one Florida lighthouse to each student and have them
complete 5 Themes of Geography worksheet. Completed sheets and pictures of each lighthouse
can be used to construct a Florida Lighthouse Bulletin Board.
Attachment #1a
Student Name: _________________
Date: _________
Coastal Geography Terms
Directions: Define the following coastal geographic terms and illustrate each in the box
provided to the right of each definition.
1) Peninsula:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
2) Inlet:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
3) Cape:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
4) River:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
5) Island:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
6) Barrier Island:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
7) Isthmus:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
8) Gulf:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
9) Bay:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
10) Challenge Words:
Reef
Sandbar
Attachment #1b
Master Coastal Geography Terms Sheet
Directions: Define the following coastal geographic terms and illustrate each in the box
provided to the right of each definition.
1) Peninsula:
A peninsula is a large land mass surrounded on
three sides by water.
2) Inlet:
An inlet is a narrow body of water leading
inland from a larger body of water. Inlets often
connect a large body of water such as an ocean,
sea, or gulf to an inland river or lake. An inlet is
also known as a straight.
3) Cape:
A cape is a small peninsula that sticks out from a
larger land mass into a large body of water.
4) River:
A river is a natural stream of water, usually
freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or
another stream.
5) Island:
An island is a piece of land that is completely
surrounded by water. Coral islands in Florida are
called keys and are often found near reefs,
especially along the southern tip of the Florida
peninsula.
6) Barrier Island:
A barrier island is a narrow island of sand that
separates a large body of water from the
mainland. Barrier Islands are usually made of
sand. The water lying between a barrier island
and the mainland is commonly called a lagoon.
7) Isthmus:
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting
two larger landmasses. An isthmus has water on
two sides.
8) Gulf:
A gulf is a large body of water connected on one
side to an ocean or sea and surrounded on three
sides by land.
9) Bay:
A bay is a body of water surrounded on three
sides by land and connected to a larger body of
water by an inlet or straight.
10) Challenge Words:
Reef
Sandbar
Attachment #3
Coastal Geography and Maritime Development
Attachment 6b: Master Florida Lighthouse Map
Attachment 6a
Student Name: _____________________
Attachment #6
Student Name: ___________________
Date: ______________
Florida Lighthouses and the Five Themes of Geography
Lighthouse Name: ___________________________________________
Location: What is your lighthouse’s Position on the Earth’s surface in absolute (latitude and
longitude) and relative
Florida Lighthouses Listed Alphabetically
1
Lighthouse
Alligator Reef
Height
150 ft.
Built
1873
Location
24 51 06 N
80 37 06 W
2
Amelia Island
64 ft.
1839
30 40 24 N
80 26 30 W
3
American Shoal
124 ft.
1880
24 31 30 N
81 31 12 W
4
Anclote Key
96 ft
1887
28 10 02 N
82 50 44 W
5
Boca Grande
44 ft.
1890
26 43 02 N
82 15 39 W
6
Cape Canaveral
145 ft.
1894
28 27 37 N
80 32 36 W
7
Cape Florida
95 ft.
1846
25 35 24 N
80 05 48 W
8
Cape St. George
74 ft.
1852
29 39 46 N
84 51 48 W
9
Cape San Blas
95 ft.
1885
29 40 16 N
85 21 23 W
10
Carysfort Reef
112 ft.
1852
25 13 18 N
80 12 42 W
11
Cedar Keys
33 ft.
1854
29 05 47 N
83 03 55 W
12
Crooked River
103 ft.
1885
29 49 37 N
84 42 02 W
13
Dog Island
40 ft.
1851
29 47 00 N
84 40 00 W
14
Egmont Key
76 ft.
1858
27 36 03 N
82 45 38 W
15
Fort Jefferson
82 ft.
1886
24 37 36 N
81 06 36 W
16
Fowey Rocks
125 ft.
1878
25 35 24 N
80 05 48 W
17
Gasparilla Island
105 ft.
1891
26 44 31 N
82 15 48 W
18
Hillsboro Inlet
142 ft.
1907
26 15 33 N
80 04 51 W
19
Jupiter Inlet
108 ft.
1860
26 56 55 N
80 04 55 W
20
Key West
86 ft.
1848
24 33 02 N
81 48 02 W
21
Loggerhead Key
157 ft.
1858
24 38 00 N
82 55 12 W
22
Mayport
64 ft.
1954
30 23 06 N
81 23 54 W
23
Pensacola
150 ft.
1859
30 20 46 N
87 18 29 W
24
Ponce Inlet
175 ft.
1887
29 04 48 N
80 55 42 W
25
St. Augustine
167 ft.
1871
29 53 08 N
81 17 19 W
26
St. Johns River
80 ft.
1859
30 23 37 N
81 25 33 W
27
St. Marks
88 ft.
1842
30 04 18 N
84 10 48 W
28
Sand Key
132 ft.
1853
24 27 14 N
81 52 39 W
29
Sanibel Island
112 ft.
1884
26 27 11 N
82 00 51 W
30
Sombrero Key
156 ft.
1858
24 37 36 N
81 06 36 W