This photo was taken from the base of the lighthouse looking up towards the bottom of the watch room. I was very surprised at the colors of the stairs. I am used to seeing greens, blacks, and grays.

This photo shows the first landing. If you have ever visited Ponce Inlet you will notice that the landings and stairs in NCH are similar in design. The main difference is that Ponce’s landings are about half of the tower’s inner diameter, and NCH’s are about ¾ the tower’s inner diameter. Also note the panels in the window alcove one on each side near the floor, on the next landing one of these would give me an interesting look into the tower.

On the second landing I photographed the inlaid tile floor at the base of the tower. This was another of the things that really surprised me about NCH

Also on the second landing I noticed a panel was off in the window alcove so I had to see what was behind it. I opened the panel a little more and could see inside of the wall. There is an air space of about 2 feet wide between the inner and outer walls. The bottom of this airspace is cast iron with a grate pattern. I could feel air blowing through the grate. The docent stated that this had been constructed this way to aid in supplying air to the lantern back when the light was powered by flame.

Well here we are on the stairs into the lantern. I leaned into the base of the lens and took this picture.

I love taking photos of the horizon as seen through Fresnel lens. This photo is of the area to the northwest of the tower.

Well I don’t want to overstay my time here as the docent wasn’t supposed to let me in here in the first place, so I say a farewell to the lantern and begin my decent back to the base. I owed the docent a huge thank you when I got down!
