"When I looked at it, I said, 'No one's going to fund this.'"
Peter DeWitt, who manages the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area for the Bureau of Land Management, was describing the first design for protecting the site's eroding shoreline, as reported by The Palm Beach Post. That plan, he told Stet News, "basically built a solid breakwater all the way along the shoreline that eliminated all boat access." He said it took four years to get his agency's management to look at a different design, and he called the version now nearing completion a compromise.
The compromise is easy to state. The rebuilt shoreline has room for about as many beached boats as the site saw on an average day, and nothing more. The space that used to absorb holiday-weekend crowds now goes to walkers, kayakers, anglers and snorkelers. If you have pulled a boat onto the sand below the lighthouse on Memorial Day, or have skipped the site for that very reason, the $16 million project changes your relationship to it more than any opening-day ribbon will.
The Shoreline Was Sized to an Average Day
The project's main job is erosion control. The shoreline had been losing about 7 feet a year, and the 120-acre site lost more than 5 acres over five decades. More than 800 individuals, businesses, partners and recreational users commented on the plans. Stet News reported that the government changed the design in response, with the Marine Industries Association and the Florida Inland Navigation District, which later helped fund the work, also involved in setting its direction.
What came out of that process is a shoreline built around a baseline. According to Stet News, a BLM study found the site averaged 17 boats a day, and the finished beaches will hold 15 to 20 depending on boat size and how close boaters are willing to sit to their neighbors. The Post put it more bluntly. The shoreline handles about 17 boats at a time, first come, first served, while holiday weekends sometimes drew 40 to 60. "That use is no longer permitted," DeWitt told the paper.
So an ordinary weekday will feel about the same as before. A peak Saturday will look very different, because the shoreline will hold roughly a third of the boats it carried at the busiest past moments. The familiar way of using the beach survives:
"What people used to do was pull up on the beach, nose in or bow in, and kind of get themselves wedged on the sand, then sit in the back of their boat to fish, play on the sand beside it. That's still available." Peter DeWitt, Bureau of Land Management, to Stet News
The new dock won't add capacity. DeWitt told Stet News it is for permitted uses only, such as a visiting historic ship or a wedding party leaving by boat, and that general public docking won't be available. A Tequesta police boat will also be kept on a lift at a nearby dock, according to the Post. When WPTV asked local boaters about the plan in September, the response it reported was disappointment tempered by an understanding of the erosion problem.
Where the Holiday Overflow Space Went
Most of the shoreline that boats no longer use went to people on foot. The most visible piece is a boardwalk along 835 feet of the Loxahatchee River side of the site. It is 8 feet wide, sits on 200 pilings, and has large limestone rocks underneath that act as the new erosion barrier. The boardwalk is there partly because of an earlier fix. According to DeWitt, concrete poured down the shoreline decades ago held for about 40 years but had begun cracking and sliding into the waterway, and the pilings now hold it in place.
In places the boardwalk widens to 16 feet, with interpretive plaques on the history and ecology of the Jupiter Inlet. Those 16-foot sections are also set aside for anglers as part of a new fishing program in development. The boardwalk and the walkway leading to it are ADA-accessible. A new accessible trail loops around the lighthouse and connects to both the pier and the boardwalk. In practice, a morning walk can go out along the river, up a staircase, and back to the tower without retracing a step.
Katrina Heller, executive director of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Museum, told the Post the loop is "a really great benefit for some locals who each morning just want to do a beautiful walk around the property or a climb of the lighthouse."
The museum's programs also gained room. A new pavilion will host educational programs, including the museum's monthly homeschool morning, along with private events. A formerly restricted part of the property is becoming lawn, which gives the annual River Cherish Art Festival in March more space. Heller told the Post the museum hopes for 100 artists this year, up from 70 last year.
Two Tiki Huts on Two Waters
The site also expands access for people who come by paddle instead of by hull, and it splits that access by water. Two recreation vendors will operate from opposite sides of the park, one on the Loxahatchee River and one on the Indian River Lagoon. "Hopefully a little competition between the two keeps the price nice and low," DeWitt told the Post.
On the Indian River side, Get Up and Go Kayaking, which has run glass-bottom kayak tours from the site for years, now works out of a large tiki hut that it shares with the Palm Beach Outrigger Canoe Club. A second kayaking company will run tours from a smaller hut on the west side of the property, near the rebuilt U.S. 1 bridge.
The snorkeling addition does the most for a spot locals already knew. At the far northeast edge of the site, on the south side of Cato's Bridge, a protected cutout bay leads to a snorkel trail that runs under the bridge toward Jupiter Island. DeWitt called the area "locally renowned for being just a great place to hang out, snorkel and see a lot of Caribbean-type fish and corals." New pilings will keep boats out of the snorkel area, and a kiosk will post snorkeling information. The snorkel area reflects the same tradeoff as the beach, with pilings giving swimmers near the bridge protection from boat traffic.
The Planting Isn't Finished
DeWitt told the Post in October that "the infrastructure itself is 95% complete. The restoration is still very much underway." More than 7,000 mangroves were in the ground at that point, against a goal of 10,000, with four more plantings to go.
Much of the new planting is old planting coming back. Before construction, the BLM worked with the Nature Conservancy and the youth group American Conservation Experience to dig up native trees and plants from the site. Those plants were kept in nurseries, on the property and at Blowing Rocks Preserve, and they are now being replanted alongside new native species. DeWitt told Stet News it "kind of felt like Noah and the ark." Gopher tortoises moved during construction have also returned to their old spots. On the Indian River side, the walls also protect a Native American shell midden that DeWitt said had been losing artifacts to erosion.
After the crews leave, Florida Atlantic University will monitor whether the restored beaches are stable, growing or shrinking, and the BLM will use that data to guide future management of the shoreline.
The Calendar From Here
The project was first scheduled to finish in August. A government shutdown early in the contract and late material deliveries pushed the finish to December, so the dates below are targets, not guarantees.
- Now through November. The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m. Lighthouse climbs run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the grounds are closed Mondays. Children must be at least 48 inches tall to climb. The BLM lists the natural-area trails as open dawn to dusk. The agency's project page warns that trails may be rerouted, areas may close from time to time, and anchorage is limited while work continues.
- Thursday, Dec. 3. An invitation-only ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m., followed by a public grand opening from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 20. The snorkeling area at Cato's Bridge is expected to open to the public.
- March. The annual River Cherish Art Festival moves onto the expanded lawn.
For boaters, the most useful date may be the first busy weekend after the grand opening. That will be the first real test of a first-come, first-served shoreline that holds about 17 boats, so an early arrival will matter more than it used to.
At Fran Hall Finch, we follow projects like this lighthouse restoration because public waterfront access shapes how Jupiter's coastal properties are used and valued over time. If you want to talk through what the Loxahatchee and Indian River shorelines mean for a home or boat slip you own or are considering, Let's Connect.