Making its debut at the 1904 Exposition in St. Louis, the lighthouse was purchased by the government in 1907 and was reassembled on the beach to mark the entrance to Hillsboro Inlet. The lighthouse stands 136 feet in height and houses a second-order Fresnel lens. The lens makes a revolution every fourty seconds with a one-second flash every twenty seconds, making the two million candle-power light visible up to twenty-five miles at sea.
The Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse is designed in such a way to minimize resistance wind and waves due to its skeleton style structure. The lower third is painted white while the upper two-thirds is painted black to serve as its daymark.
To visit the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, take Interstate 95 to exit 35 in Pompano Beach. Go 2 miles east on Copans Road. Make a right on Hwy 1 and travel south for a half mile. Make a left onto 14th Street and travel east for about a mile. Then make a left turn on Highway A1A and drive one mile to the inlet. The lighthouse is located on the north side of the inlet. The best views are from the beach on the south side of the inlet.
