Long before its black-and-white spiral stripes became a Florida icon, the St. Augustine Lighthouse stood as a lonely watchtower, a protective sentinel over the shifting waters of the Atlantic. From shipwrecks and wartime danger to family tragedies, heroic keepers, and its near-demolition in the 1970s, this lighthouse has survived more than most buildings ever will. Today, it shines not just as a navigational beacon, but as a museum, a classroom, and a piece of living history — especially during the Christmas season, when the lantern room glows above a landscape of twinkling lights.