If nobody witnessed the fire while it was burning, and someone came the next day and saw the ruins of the lighthouse, and the deceased victim, would they have thought it a notable event or just a run of the mill building fire?
I presume they would figure he burned to death or died of smoke inhalation, which he didn’t. So, no, wouldn’t have had a clue.
Was the lighthouse itself well known?
Maybe, but not to me. I think it was a fairly good bit of architecture, but was just a functioning lighthouse mainly. Irrelevant to the puzzle, though. I did see a painting of it, so somone thought it was neat back then.