Blunt, Santa Rosa Island

Blunt, Santa Rosa Island is a survey station erected in May of 1871 by Stehman Forney,

“and stands on a smooth oval shaped hill on the south face of the island about 1/4 of a mile from the beach and 1-1/2 miles from the west point of the island. The southwest face of the hill on which the signal stands is covered with small limestones. To the northwest of the hill is a deep gulch running about east and west down to the ocean.”

It was named by Forney to honor his colleague, George William Blunt, born in Newburyport, Mass., March 11, 1802. Blunt was a pioneer publisher of nautical charts and books. His firm published many editions of Bowditch's Navigator and Blunt's Coastal Pilot. For over 40 years Blunt served as first assistant in the U.S. Coast Survey and was instrumental in gaining reforms in the U.S. Lighthouse Service. He died April 19, 1878 in New York City.

The station was remarked in 1934 by Charles K. Green with a standard disk stamped BLUNT 1872-1934. He stated:

“the best way to reach the station is to make a boat landing at the small bight where an old abandoned shack is located about 3/4 mile from the west end of the island on the north side. Make for the top of the broad mesa that covers the west end of the island. The station location can be identified by a small knob on the edge of the mesa on the south side of the island.”

This triangulation station appears on the Santa Rosa Island West topographic map. [UTM 10: North 3,763,591 East 757,472].