History

Safety Updates

Florida State Parks will follow local orders requiring facial coverings or masks to provide for staff and visitor safety. These requirements vary from area to area. Our main priority is the safety of our guests and staff. We will continue to review operations on a daily basis and make additional operational changes as may be deemed necessary for protection of public health. Please review individual park pages for specific information for each location.

View details about online payments, park and campground closures, park programs/events and facial coverings.

Limited Visitation at this Park

Effective Nov. 19, 2020: Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park is open, including the beaches, concessions and the fishing platforms. Pavilion rentals are currently unavailable. Due to local orders, facial coverings or masks are required both when outdoors and inside buildings for staff and visitor safety. Due to limited visitation, the park may close early and remain closed for several hours. Lighthouse and cottage tours are closed. Exact change is necessary when paying with cash. Credit cards are accepted. Visitors are expected to maintain distances of at least six feet apart.

Ponce de Leon named this area 'Cape of Florida' when he led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513.

The Cape Florida lighthouse was completed in 1825 but was damaged during the Second Seminole War. The rebuilt tower, completed in 1846, remains the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County.

The island served as a secret meeting place and port for fugitive slaves and Black Seminoles waiting to rendezvous with sea captains or board dugouts for a passage to safety in the British Bahamas.

Although the lighthouse was built to save lives and ships, its unflinching light brought an end to this avenue of escape.

In September 2004, Cape Florida was designated a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site.