This photo from 1980 shows the tower in need of maintenance and the 1876 Keepers’ House in need of renovations after a suspected arson fire in the 1970s. In 1981, the members of the Junior Service League of St. Augustine adopted the Keepers’ House as their newest service project. The JSL signed a 99-year lease with St. Johns County for the Keepers’ House and grounds and launched an estimated $300,000 campaign to restore the exterior of the building to its original beauty. With the completion of the Keepers’ House project, the Junior Service League reached out to the United States Coast Guard operations in Jacksonville to inquire about the potential of leasing the lighthouse tower and opening it to the public. The League received a guarantee that the Coast Guard would paint the tower prior to it handing it over to the League. Today, the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum is a nonprofit organization run a Board of Directors, all volunteers from throughout the northeast Flori...