Old Cape Canaveral
A working lighthouse, a rocket range, and a town that survived getting moved.
Cape Canaveral is older than NASA by a century. The 1848 lighthouse still works. The fishing village got bought out in 1949 and rebuilt itself. The launch pads keep firing. Old Cape Canaveral covers all of it, sourced from the National Archives, NASA, the US Coast Guard, and Florida Memory.
Latest articles
Apollo 1 and Launch Complex 34 : January 27, 1967
The Apollo 1 pad fire killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee on the cape on January 27, 1967. The launch complex is now a national memorial. The accident reshaped the entire Apollo program.
April 2026
What we lost when the cape became a rocket range
An editorial accounting. The cape's federal acquisition gave the country a launch range and gave the cape's families a 75-year erasure. Both happened. Both should be named.
March 2026
1961 : The Bay of Pigs and the case for Mercury
John F. Kennedy was inaugurated January 20, 1961. The Bay of Pigs invasion failed April 17. Yuri Gagarin orbited April 12. The case for accelerated American spaceflight was made that spring.
March 2026
Cape Canaveral schools : from the 1898 one-room schoolhouse to today
The cape's school history runs from an 1898 one-room schoolhouse near the lighthouse to the modern Brevard County school system. Consolidation, NASA-era growth, and the cape's two school identities.
March 2026
The Cape Canaveral cemeteries : pre-1949 graves on a launch range
Two small cemeteries on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station hold burials from the cape's pre-1949 fishing village. Descendants can request access. The graves themselves cannot be moved.
March 2026
Jetty Park : Port Canaveral's south jetty turned public park
The south jetty at Port Canaveral's channel entrance was federal property until 1989, when it became Jetty Park. The 35-acre park is the cape's best public launch-viewing spot.
March 2026
What this site is
Cape Canaveral is the city, the Air Force station, and Port Canaveral. Three things, one peninsula, nearly four centuries of recorded history. The Spanish met the Ais here in 1565. The first lighthouse burned whale oil. The first rocket left the ground in 1950. The site below covers the full record.
Every article cites primary sources: NASA history office, US Coast Guard records, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station historical division, the National Archives, Florida Memory, and the Canaveral Port Authority. When a claim can't be verified, we say so. When tradition fills a gap, we name it as tradition.
The site publishes under the brand, not a personal byline. The work is what matters.