Took a mental health day yesterday and traveled to Long Island, NY to see some lights. Drove to Bridgeport, CT and took the 9AM sailing of the Bridgeport/Port Jefferson Ferry.
First light was CT’s Tongue Point, seen from the Ferry as it left Bridgeport Harbor. This 21' tall lighthouse rests on a 10' tall concrete pier, marking the east end of Tongue (Wells) Point, on the west shore of Bridgeport Harbor. There were no onsite living quarters and the keeper had to row out to the breakwater to service the light. In fact, for the first five years of its existence, there was no structure upon which the keeper could land his boat. A landing dock was built in 1896. There were government proposals for the construction of a keeper’s house at the end of a plank walk built in 1900 between the tower and the breakwater, but the project never occurred. The keeper built a shack on the breakwater to facilitate his tending of the light in 1906.
Automated in 1954, it’s 6th-order Fresnel lens was removed when the light was replaced by a modern lens in 1988. The Coast Guard did not, however remove the 1881 fog bell or its striking mechanism. Scheduled for deactivation in 1967, public protests persuaded the Cost Guard to retain the beacon as an active aid to navigation.
The ferry then passed Penfield Reef LH. Two hundred years ago the peninsula on which the LH stands was once a lush pasture. It supported sheep and a dairy herd. After the cattle and sheep had stripped away the vegetation and ballast hunters carried away the protective riprap, the peninsula underwent geological changes: first, it formed as an island, then a sand bar, and finally a reef.
The 35' tall lighthouse has a square plan, quoins, foot-scrolled window surrounds, and a mansard roof. The square dwelling’s first story walls are brick faced with rough granite ashlar with slightly protruding corners (quoins). The base of the structure is outlined in larger granite blocks. The wood-framed second story is contained within the mansard roof. The square tower rises from the second deck and at the third level becomes a 4-sided structure with beveled corners. The first deck held a parlor, galley, and supply room. The second deck contained 4 bedrooms and the third level was the watchroom. The structure contains a spiraling stairway that begins at the first floor entry and ascends as an oval to the third floor’s watchroom.
The light marks Penfield Reef which extends into Long Island Sound from Shoal Point. The Coast Guard was going to replace this 1874 tower with a skeletal tower in 1969. The new light would be automated and the old structure was to be demolished. A civic outcry caused the Coast Guard to reconsider. Following automation in 1971, the Coast Guard withdrew its keepers. Sadly, no governmental or private organization has expressed any interest in preserving this historic structure.
The next light seen was Stratford Shoal (Middle Ground) Lighthouse. This light lies seven miles south of Bridgeport about midway between Stratford Point and Long Island’s Old Field Point. Although there have been attempts to classify America’s lighthouses as belonging to specific revivals, only three can be directly related to a particular revivalistic style: New York’s Race Rock and Stratford Shoal (Gothic) and Maine’s Portland Breakwater (Greco-Classical).
Stratford Shoal and Race Rock share a basic similarity, but they differ in stone finishes, window arches, and roof shapes. Both lighthouses are beautiful examples of the granite workmanship which first appeared in lighthouses built along the Hudson River in the 1860s.
Next was Old Field Point Lighthouse. Owned by the Village of Old Field, NY since 1935, the 1824 keeper’s dwelling houses the Clerk’s Office, and the 1868 lighthouse is the home of the village’s Chief Constable. The Coast Guard maintains the light. It is not listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
This is the second lighthouse at this site, a 2-story granite 74' tall structure, completed in 1868. Its walls are 2' thick. The wooden square tower with beveled corners is 28' tall. Its design closely resembles the Victorian-Gothic Revival architectural styling seen in Atlantic Coast lighthouses built in 1867-‘68, i.e., RI’s Block Island North, CT’s Morgan Point, Sheffield Island, and Great Captain, and LI’s Plum Island.
We then docked at Port Jefferson and began our trek to see five LI lighthouses or remains. I’d successfully downloaded waypoints for our GPS to use to guide us to the lights I’d hoped to see during this excursion and was anxious to see how it worked. Stan had printed maps from Mapquest and we had our trusty Atlas and NY State map. Do I have to tell you I’m not fully trusting of anything electronic. . . .
Finding a way to balance the GPS on the dashboard took a little doing–their “included stand” doesn’t stick to the vinyl of the dash. My new best friend (best friend used to be duct tape) is industrial strength velcro. Finally got it secured and asked it to find Shinnecock. I followed along with a map just in case, but darned if it didn’t get us there without error. Even told us when we were “off route”. That happened a few times when two or three right-hand turns were in a row, especially in the center of town. The voice doesn’t give the name of the street, but the screen does (I didn’t realize that until I leaned close to the dashboard). Once I figured that out, I could tell Stan the name of the street we were looking for and we got on track quickly.
Shinnecock Lighthouse, NY. Activated on January 1, 1858, this 150' red brick tower was one of the tallest lighthouses on the East Coast. Its keepers were required to walk up 178 steps to get to the lantern room. It helped light the 67 miles between Fire Island and Montauk Point. Replaced in 1931 by a light atop a skeleton tower, that tower was destroyed in the hurricane of 1938. The old brick lighthouse remained standing, but following the Coast Guard assuming control of the nation’s lighthouses in 1939, they felt the Shinnecock Lighthouse was unstable and should be torn down. Although an engineering examination found it to be safe and stable, the Coast Guard pursued its demolition plans and in December of 1948 the bottom portion of the brick walls on one side of the tower was jackhammered away and replaced with supporting timbers. The timbers were then doused with gasoline and set on fire. As the wood was consumed, the tower slowly leaned over and then crashed to the ground. The only remaining sign of the majestic Shinnecock Lighthouse is the 1902 brick oil house seen here.
Continuing on NY 27, we let the GPS guide us to the State Park the Montauk Point Lighthouse is located in at the eastern tip of Long Island. Steeped in history, of special note is that for generations of immigrants, this lighthouse was their first sight of America. It became as much a symbol of their new home as the Statue of Liberty.
Octagonal in shape, the 78' tower is made with red CT sandstone, brought to the site by ship. The familiar reddish-brown band that bisects the lighthouse was added in 1903. Before that time, the tower was painted all white.
The tower was heightened 14' in 1860 to make it a proper 1st-class coastal beacon. An innovative method for stopping erosion on hillsides, involving the digging of trenches across the eroded face of the hill and stuffing the trenches with the withered stems of tall grasses and reeds has been in use since the late 1960s. The technique, patented by Giorgina Reid, a New Yorker, has been deemed a roaring success by the Coast Guard and the lighthouse remains at its original site even though erosion has brought the tower to within 50' of falling into the sea.
Next was Cedar Island Lighthouse. When it was originally built, it was on Cedar Island, named for the small stand of trees on the otherwise barren island. The 1938 hurricane filled in the 200-yard gap between the island and the shore, turning it into a peninsula now known as Cedar Point.
A Civil War veteran named Charles Mulford, who wore a peg leg after being injured in the war, was appointed keeper at Cedar Island in 1897. He became famous locally for buying up every wooden leg he could find around the community. After the 1974 fire at the lighthouse, firefighters reportedly found a forgotten storeroom filled with wooden legs that had only partially survived the fire.
We then let the GPS guide us out of Cedar Point State Park with instructions to get us to Long Beach Bar Lighthouse. She (yes, it’s a woman’s voice [who better to give directions!!]) told us to travel x miles/feet on NY 114 through Sag Harbor to a location I was just waiting to hear. She directed us all the way and the last statement for the leg of the journey was, “in 100 feet, get on the ferry.” To get to Shelter Island without going all the way back down NY 27, you have to board the Shelter Island Ferry traveling from North Haven, NY to Shelter Island, NY. Crossing time is 3 minutes–I’m serious folks, 3 minutes. We stayed in the car and I thought Stan was joking when he started the car and put it in gear!! I hadn’t even felt the ship move!! The GPS refreshed itself and she continued as if there hadn’t been any gap, “in 100 feet, get off the ferry.”
We took pictures of Long Beach Bar Lighthouse from a spot on Shelter Island and NY 114. This replicated structure replaces the original that burned to its foundation on July 4, 1963.
Another ferry boarding (only this time crossing time was 10 minutes) from Shelter Island to Greenport where we picked up Highway 25 and drove to Southold to see Horton Point Lighthouse. This 1857-built, 55' tall square tower with a separate, 2-story keeper’s residence are built of New England granite and local bricks and lumber. A connecting annex was added between the lighthouse and the residence later.
Beautifully landscaped and maintained, this restored lighthouse and nautical museum has been jointly kept by the Southold Parks District and the Southold Historical Society.
All-in-all, a wonderful day. Super weather, marvelous company, and a woman I could shut off whenever I wanted to. . . .
Bob 
! Although I can see the digital zoom effects.
