Construction of Culebrita Lighthouse, which was begun on September 25, 1882 and completed on February 25, 1886, was a difficult undertaking due to the undeveloped state of the island. A wooden pier was first built for offloading supplies that were lightered to shore from the supply vessel, anchored offshore. Next, a road had to be hacked out of the island with picks and shovels to reach the construction site, situated at an elevation of 305 feet.
The plans for Culebrita Lighthouse called for a unique T-shaped stone structure with the thirty-seven-foot-tall tower being centered along the vertical portion of the ‘T’. The bottom portion of the ‘T’ was an oil room and storeroom, and on the opposite side of the tower, a corridor led to a pair of identical keeper’s quarters, one on the left and one on the right. Each apartment consisted of three rooms measuring 10’ x 12’ and a kitchen/dining room measuring approximately 13’ x 15’.
A hurricane passed over the island of Culebrita on October 9 and 10, 1916. The keeper and the assistant keeper filled the gap in the lantern left by broken glass with planks and blankets and replaced the broken glass during the day so as to avoid any interruption to the service of the light. The estimated velocity of the wind during the hurricane was 125 miles an hour. A strong earthquake was felt at the lighthouse on August 1, 1927 and caused the light apparatus to oscillate but no damage was done.
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1171