Name and Location

Hope Town Lighthouse (Elbow Reef Lighthouse)

Location: Queen’s Highway, Hope Town, Elbow Cay, The Bahamas

Coordinates: 26°32��17″ N, 76°57��36″ W

Map link (Google Maps): https://goo.gl/maps/E5bZ2JpWTQm

Construction and History

The Hope Town Lighthouse was constructed between 1862 and 1864 during the Victorian era. It is one of the world's few manually operated cast-iron lighthouses and a treasured local landmark. The lighthouse remains an important part of the Bahamas' maritime heritage.

Architecture and Materials

The lighthouse has a prefabricated cast-iron "skeletal" frame with a central cylinder, typical of mid-19th-century British lighthouse engineering. The construction materials include cast-iron plates bolted to wrought-iron framing, with an original central spiral staircase made of cast iron.

Light and Navigation

The lighthouse features a first-order Fresnel lens with a focal length of 920 mm, assembled from 12 glass panels. The light source is kerosene, originally fueled by whale oil. The characteristic is a group flash—Fl (2) W 10 s: two white flashes every ten seconds. The nominal range is 17 nautical miles.

Accessibility and Visiting

Visitors can access the lighthouse by private boat or scheduled water taxi from Marsh Harbour to the Hope Town Lower Public Dock, followed by a 5-minute walk north along Queen’s Highway. Opening hours are Monday through Saturday, 9:30 AM–11:30 AM and 1:30 PM–3:30 PM (closed Sundays and Bahamian public holidays). Entrance fee is USD 10 for adults and USD 5 for children under 12.

Notable Views and Landscape

From the lantern gallery platform, visitors enjoy panoramic views of the Atlantic reef crest and sun-baked coral heads to the north. To the west, they can see Hope Town harbor with its pastel-hued cottages and candy-striped jail tower. Southward lies Marsh Harbour and Great Abaco Island's low ridges.

Anecdotes and Folklore

The lighthouse has survived notable events, including Hurricane Donna in 1960, when it sustained minor damage to the lantern roof. Keepers famously used salvaged glass to jury-rig a temporary lens. Oral tradition tells of a Spanish merchantman grounding on Elbow Reef in 1742, with survivors guiding later settlers to the cay.

Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse has no local radar installation; instead, it uses an AIS beacon maintained by The Bahamas Maritime Authority off-site. Nearby navigational marks include several minor buoys and daymarks establishing the reef edge, as well as Elbow Reef Gong buoy located 0.5 nautical miles east of the tower.

Further Information

Managed by: Elbow Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society in cooperation with The Bahamas National Trust

Official website: https://www.elbowreef.com/lighthouse

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_Reef_Lighthouse