Anyone have or know where to look for a list of the tallest lighthouses in the US? I would like to know the top 20 or 25 tallest. Many Thanks !!!

Don't know that the list exists at any one place. You could start with an "educated guess" of the tallest towers and fill in the heights. That information is available from a variety of places. Probably the easiest to use would be the NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations.

For starters, the tallest towers will be the southeastern US landfall lights, those that would have a first order lens (maybe an occassional second order). Hatteras, Currituck, Bodie, Lookout, St Simons, St. Augustine, Assateague. Then add in places like maybe Cape May, Barnegat, Montauk. I imagine they are all 150' or taller.

I didn't find a total list, but I started with all the ones I knew were over 100 feet. This is a start:

According to websites:

1) Hatteras (NC) is listed the tallest in the US at 196 feet. I guess not counting the Statue of Liberty.

191' Cape Charles VA

175' Ponce is supposed to be the second tallest (so I suppose they ignored Cape Charles) and the tallest in Florida

172' Barnegat Light, NJ
170' Bodie Island, NC
169' Cape Lookout (NC)
169' Oak Island, SC
168' Fire Island, NY

165' St. Augustine is supposed to be #10 in the US, so I'm missing one of them, because I've only got 9 of them.

164' New Cape Henry light (VA)
163' Corolla (NC)
158' Currituck (NC)
158' Cape May NJ
150' Loggerhead Key, FL
150' Pensacola FL
144' Tybee Island GA
142' Assateague Lighthouse, VA
142' Sombrero Key FL
140' Sullivan's Island (Charleston), SC
136' Hunting Island SC
131' Sand Island Light AL

130' - Rock of Ages
121' - White Shoal

115' Pigeon Point Light Station is the tallest in California

113' Grosse Pt. Michigan
112' Big Sable Point Lighthouse in MI
111' - Rawley Point
110.5' Montauk Point Lighthouse (NY)
110' - Stannard's Rock
109' - New Presque Isle
108' - Wind Point, WI
107' - Big Sable
107' - Little Sable
104' - South Manitou Island
104' St. Simons Island Lighthouse (GA)

95' Hilton Head Rear Range Light SC

I really only know the south east coast of the US though so if your favorite isn't in here, you can add it.

The Statue of Liberty is the tallest
then Cape Hatteras (unless you add the word brick)
then Cape Charles
then Ponce Inlet
after that depends on your source as some places will list the height different by a foot or so.

What is also interesting is the highest focal plane. In Florida Pensacola has the highest focal plane. I image some of those west coast lighthouses also have high focal planes.

The highest focal plane depends to a certain extent on the lighthouse being built on a bluff.

SoL may have been a light, but it is no longer. I would not include it on a list of tallest LH - sorry, Eric.

Question was height of the lighthouse. Focal plane should be of no consequence in this list. If you were going to include height of focal plane, you would have to include lights such as Point Bonita and Point Reyes which are actually very short lights with very, very high focal plane. For example, Point Reyes is 35' with a focal plane of 294'. NPS listing does show both.

Corolla Light and Currituck Beach Light would have to be one and the same. Difference in height illustrates part of the problem with so many supposedly accurate web site listings. Cape Hatteras has been listed everywhere from 197' to 208', have never seen it listed as 196. The NPS Historical Light Station site lists it at 207' with 10' underground. Doesn't appear to have been revised to reflect the move.

A few more to fill in the gaps

1. Morris Island SC--------------161 feet
2. Cape romain SC ---------------150feet
3. Cape Canaveral FL------------ 137 feet
4. Hillsboro lighthouse FL------ 136 feet
5. Sand key FL ------------------120 feet
6. American Shoal lighthouse FL--109 feet

Insert Absecon, NJ in at 167" and that will make St. Augustine the 10th tallest lighthouse.

Jim

Actually, make the tower height 171' (focal plane is 167 feet). Many web sites list it as the tallest NJ lighthouse, which would conflict with the numbers above for Barnegat.

Jim

Originally posted by grandmaR:

1) 197' Hatteras (NC) is listed the tallest in the US. (correcting the height of Hatteras)
2) 191' Cape Charles VA
3) 175' Ponce is supposed to be the second tallest (so I suppose they ignored Cape Charles) and the tallest in Florida
4) 172' Barnegat Light, NJ
5) 171' Absecon, NJ
6) 170' Bodie Island, NC
7T) 169' Cape Lookout (NC)
7T) 169' Oak Island, SC
9) 168' Fire Island, NY
10) 165' St. Augustine

11) 164' New Cape Henry light (VA)
12) 162' Currituck (NC)
13) 161' Morris Island SC
14) 158' Cape May NJ
15T) 150' Loggerhead Key, FL
15T) 150' Pensacola FL
15T) 150' Cape Roman SC
18) 144' Tybee Island GA
19T) 142' Assateague Lighthouse, VA
19T) 142' Sombrero Key FL

21) 140' Sullivan's Island (Charleston), SC
22) 137' Cape Canaveral
23T) 136' Hunting Island SC
23T) 136' Hillsboro FL
25) 131' Sand Island Light AL
26) 130' - Rock of Ages
27) 121' - White Shoal
28) 115' Pigeon Point Light Station is the tallest in California
29) 113' Grosse Pt. Michigan
30) 112' Big Sable Point Lighthouse in MI

31) 111' - Rawley Point
32) 110.5' Montauk Point Lighthouse (NY)
33) 110' - Stannard's Rock
34T) 109' - American Shoal lighthouse FL
34T) 109' - New Presque Isle
36) 108' - Wind Point, WI
37T) 107' - Big Sable
37T) 107' - Little Sable
39T) 104' - South Manitou Island
39T) 104' St. Simons Island Lighthouse (GA)

95' Hilton Head Rear Range Light SC

I really only know the south east coast of the US though so if your favorite isn't in here, you can add it.

This is the top 40 of them so far.

Big Sable is on the list twice. 112' is what is listed by NPS. Grosse Point is on Lake Michigan but is in Illinois.

More from Florida

1. Alligator Reef---------------150 feet
2. Carysfort Reef---------------112 feet
3. Sanibel----------------------115 feet
4. Gasparilla Island Rear Range-105 feet
5. Crooked river----------------103 feet
6. Cape Sand Blas----------------96 feet
7. Anclote Key-------------------96 feet
8. Cape Florida------------------95 feet

How about these two lights

1.Frying Pan Shoel NC 125 feet
2.Diamond Shoals light tower NC 175 feet

Grays Harbor at 107 feet is the tallest lighthouse in Washington state

Ship Shoal, LA 125 feet

Ship Shoal, LA

This thread reminded me of another thread from the dusty archives.

http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/cgi-bin/forumscgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000145#000000

I've been trying unsuccessfully to find the height of Diamond Shoals. The focal plane is 125 feet, and I don't think the top of it looks like it is 50 feet above the light. I think it has been demolished, and I think that Frying Pan Shoals has also. We've been in the Cape Fear River a couple of times in the last 5 years, and I did not see anything except Bald Head and Oak Island. I did see the yellow buoy that has the weather instruments.

Need to consider how much of a screwpile style light (including the Florida reef lights) are actually underwater. NPS and the CG Historic Light Station Lists put Alligator at 136. It also shows Carysfort Reef as specifically 100 feet above water. For Sombrero Key, it indicates the light is 166', 142' above water. Some of the lights it doesn't even list a height for.

The CG Historic Station list shows the Chesapeake Tower at 120', the Light List shows 117' focal plane which would appear to support each other. The other 2 towers don't show. They were scheduled to be torn down, not sure if it ever happened, but if it did I think it was in the last 2-3 years. Some of the members here took a boat trip out to one of them (or were supposed to) within the past couple years. And, no, this was not the trip to teh Chesapeake Light.

The Light Lists list a height, but it is the height of the focal plane. On some of the lights this difference is enough different from the supposed listed height that it may be wrong.

The most logical approach is to make a tentative list of the top 30-35 lights and then research each at the various sites. Which is most accurate? One would like to think the CG's own site followed by the NPS site, but who knows. One safe statement, I believe, is that it is going to take a height of at least 100' above water to crack the top 25 list.

On the lighthouse “heights” that I researched I did a web search with the name of the lighthouse and the word "height". It listed the many sites on that lighthouse and it's height. I then took the most prevalent height to post on the forum. A few lighthouses only had one or two sites so I had to rely on just one or two references. The heights I quoted were the lighthouse structural height not focal plane. For lighthouses like the Diamond Shoal has 50 feet of its structure under water, so that only leaves around 125 feet for the focal plane. Yes; there was talk about dismantling either the Frying pan or the Diamond or both.

I found several websites which told me that both of the lighthouses had been dismantled, or in the case of Frying Pan Shoals, had been made into an artificial reef on site.

I confess that I thought Diamond Shoals was on the south of Cape Fear, when it is really off Cape Hatteras. I have never been offshore of Cape Hatteras (and would not go there) and when we visited the Hatteras lighthouse in December of 2004, it was closed to climbing, so I couldn't have seen the Diamond Shoals light from there.

In August of 2004 Coast Guard Lighthouse Sailors website said:

So I think it is pretty clear from the past tense in that quote, that Diamond Shoals had already been dismantled.

The last time we went into the Cape Fear River was the spring of 2004. The shoals that are south of the mouth of the river are Jay Bird Shoals (not Diamond as I was thinking), and then there are Bald Head Shoals right off Bald Head Island. We did not get involved in any way with Frying Pan Shoals which were 15 nm easterly from where the entrance to the Cape Fear River is.

Coastwatch Early Summer 2004 in an article titled "Frying Pan Shoals: Light Tower Evokes Bygone Era" says:
So I probably could have seen Frying Pan Shoals if I had been coming from the north side, but coming from the south, we just didn't see it.


As far as the height goes, one site for Frying Pan shoals says

Then it says "Design: Plain Height: 125 feet" That does not compute. I take it that would mean that the tower above the main floor would have to be 85 feet tall and I don't think it was.

For the height of a lighthouse, just as the height of the focal plane doesn't really 'count' (IMHO) for the height of a lighthouse that is up on a high bluff, I don't think the amount of the lighthouse that is under water would count either.

Some of the caisson lighthouses, particularly in the Chesapeake, are sunk many feet down into the soupy mud that we have here. The mud is almost a colloidal suspension, and hardly 'land' at all. You can't anchor in it. In that case, the focal plane (which is from sea level to the light itself) would be a more accurate measure of height for a lighthouse that stands out in the water.

I recently received a reply to the status of Frying Pan Shoals and Diamond Shoals ligthouses from C.M. Harstfield, Lieutenant Junior Grade, U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina, Public Affairs. Both lighthouses are still slated for demolition, however no dates have been set due to funding issues.

Just got a great idea for a new Harbour Light lighthouse series. Call it:


“Save Our Lighthouses”

The first two nominees for this set would be the;

“Frying Pan Shoals and Diamond Shoals NC”

The main purpose of this series would not necessarily be for donations but for information on lighthouses that are on the demolition list.
The lighthouse would come with instructions on how to prevent this from happening and who to write to to show your concerns. Of course these would have to be an L.E.

Maybe because of the speed these would have to be made and to make it more available they could be made as the limited edtiion LLOM.

Started new post about this in the Wish List Forum

Bolivar Pt, TX -- 117 ft. Texas tallest, brightest, and first

I can believe the lack of funding. One of the articles said that when the CG heliocopter tried to land at Frying Pan Shoals to fix the weather instruments, they found it in such bad shape, that the took off again right away. So maybe it will fall down of its own accord.

But when I told someone that Rebecca Shoals had been demolished by the last hurricane, he called the Coast Guard and they swore blind that it was still there. It wasn't until he got to the person that was actually in charge of replacing ATONs that he was able to confirm that it was indeed gone.

I guess this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing!
HCS

This is what they used to replace the demolished Rebecca Shoals light--picture taken 12/02/04:

So was this one demolished? We have had quite a few hurricaines since the photo was taken in 2004.
HCS

Copied from the Lighthouse Depot Lighthouse site:

What you see above replaced the 1953 skeletel tower that was lost to Hurricane Charlie.

Thanks Sandy.
I had looked on line and only found photos of the original and skeleton tower lights.
HCS

We saw the skeleton tower in 2001, but when I flew over in 2004, it was gone.

Thanks for the info on the tallest lighthouse in the US. I tried to find a web-site that had that info, but couldn't. I then knew that the deacons of beacons on the Collector Forums would help me with the info I was seaching. Many Thanks !!!

This is the updated list with some of those additional lights and corrections. It is NOT definitive. It is just a rough draft of what may be the top 40 lights.

1) 197' Hatteras (NC) is listed the tallest in the US. (correcting the height of Hatteras)
2) 191' Cape Charles VA
3) 175' Ponce is supposed to be the second tallest (so I suppose they ignored Cape Charles) and the tallest in Florida
4) 172' Barnegat Light, NJ
5) 171' Absecon, NJ
6) 170' Bodie Island, NC
7T) 169' Cape Lookout (NC)
7T) 169' Oak Island, NC
9) 168' Fire Island, NY
10) 165' St. Augustine

11) 164' New Cape Henry light (VA)
12) 162' Currituck (NC)
13) 161' Morris Island SC
14) 158' Cape May NJ
15T) 150' Loggerhead Key, FL
15T) 150' Pensacola FL
15T) 150' Cape Roman SC
18) 144' Tybee Island GA
19T) 142' Assateague Lighthouse, VA
19T) 142' Sombrero Key FL

21) 140' Sullivan's Island (Charleston), SC
22) 137' Cape Canaveral
23T) 136' Hunting Island SC
23T) 136' Hillsboro FL
23T) 136' Alligator Reef
26) 131' Sand Island Light AL
27) 130' - Rock of Ages
28) 125' - Ship Shoal - Louisiana
29) 121' - White Shoal
30) 115' Pigeon Point Light Station is the tallest in California

31) 113' Grosse Pt. Michigan
32) 112' Big Sable Point Lighthouse on Lake Michigan
33) 111' - Rawley Point
34) 110.5' Montauk Point Lighthouse (NY)
35) 110' - Stannard's Rock
36T) 109' - American Shoal lighthouse FL
36T) 109' - New Presque Isle
38) 108' - Wind Point, WI
39T) 107' - Little Sable
39T) 107' - Gray's Harbor, Washington State

The Florida Light Stations list has somewhat lower heights for some of the Florida lights.

So glad you are keeping up with this list, Rosalie. It's cool to have!

Not to nitpic, but 7T Oak Island is in NC not SC. Other than that nice list. Glad to see Cape Charles in it rightful place as Number 2.

OK I fixed that Eric - it is pretty close to SC though isn't it?

Oak Island LH is located near the southern end of North Carolina at Caswell Beach near Southport.
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc01b3127cce97044cdf412200000015108AZtWzNu2ZOH[/img]
The lighthouse is at the Oak Island USCG Station...
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc01b3127cce9704359d01c400000016108AZtWzNu2ZOH[/img]

Here's the official web site for the Friends of Oak Island LH

Judy

I just always think of Southport as the southern end of NC. When we are on the boat, that's about the last place we can stay until we get to Myrtle Beach SC. And I associate Oak Island with Morris Island for some reason, and I think Morris Island IS in SC is it not?

Yes,

Morris Island is in SC. It is in the Charleston Harbor. Sullivan's Island LH is it's replacement.

Dennis

I'm glad somebody posted a list of the heights of the lighthouses. One of my friends just sent me an article about lighthouses and it said that Ponce de Leon was the tallest in the United States. I was sure Hatteras was, but I'm glad it was on the forums to back me up.

Very nice to have a list to refer to! Thanks Roaslie...keep up the good work!

Thanks for the work you've put into this list Rosalie - it's a nice resource to have. Some are near the top that I didn't think would be.

Now...here's what I was wondering today...which is the tallest lighthouse in the country that is privately owned? Not by a preservation group or something, by an individual who does not open it to the public.

i.e., who has the best lighthouse view all to themselves here in America?

I don't know why, but I'm extremely curious.

Hey Greg-that's a really good question! Would be nice to now about the private view!!!

Kay, I heard someone saying that Ponce was the tallest lighthouse on its original foundation. I thought that was dumb. Even so Cape Charles would still be higher. And lets face it Cape Hatteras is not the only lighthouse to be moved. Maybe they meant tallest in Florida.

Yeah, the tour guy at Ponce inserted the word brick when I corrected him about being the second tallest lighthouse in the US. I know they usally say tallest in Florida.

Good for you Eric.

Well I think some of the Chesapeake Lighthouses have been sold to private parties, so some of them would be in the list to be considered. I think Baltimore, Smith, and Wolf Trap have been sold to private people.

Off the top of my head, there two in Texas that are privately owned and one of them may be the tallest. Several on the Great Lakes are privately owned, but I believe they are not as tall as the ones in Texas.

Eric,
My friend evidently cut the article out of a magizine. I just checked it and it did say the
"tallest in the US". I think they should have
Checked the fasts before they printed it.