Historical Research Report on the Kingsland Point Lighthouse

HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPORT

ON

THE KINGSLAND POINT LIGHTHOUSE

PART A HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPORT ON THE KINGSLAND POINT LIGHTHOUSE

by Marilyn E. Welgold, Ph.D. • Associate Prof, of History Pace University

September 18, 1979

PART A

The task of researching the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was facilitated by the work done by Cblonel Charles H. Roe whose excellent article on the history of the lighthouse appeared in the Westchester Historian in the fall of 1968. The section of Jeff Canning's and Wally Buxton's (pseudonym of William C. Gross) History of the Tarry- towns dealing with the lighthouse was extremely helpful as were Mr. Buxton's newspaper articles and the work done by Lewis Rubinstein for the Hudson River Valley Commission's Hudson River Lighthouses. Documen­ tation and oral history material collected by Christopher Lennox for the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns also proved useful as did the fine report written for the County of Westchester by Mary J. Madigan of American Arts and Antiques Magazine.

Building upon the firm foundation laid by the aforementioned experts, this researcher visited numerous libraries and archives in search of those elusive gems of historical information which can bring an inanimate object like a lighthouse to life. Having served as a consultant to the Nassau County Museum, the Wildcliff Museum and

Natural Science Center in New Rochelle, and the Gregory Museum in Hicksville, Long Island and as president of the Huguenot-Thomas Paine Historical Association and member of the board of directors of the -2- latter organization as well as the Westchester County Historical

Society, the researcher approached the problem of the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse from a museological standpoint. 'When gathering material for the Historical Data section of the report, the intention was to furnish the museum consultant with information which will prove useful from an exhibit and interpretive standpoint. Although additional historical data can be found in the manuscript which constitutes Part B of this report, the researcher will be happy to elaborate further upon the material in Part A of the report for the benefit of the museum consultant or representatives of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation of the County of Westchester.

The principal divisions of Fart A of this report are:

I. Sources of Information - a critical analysis of the

collections consulted.

II. Living Information Sources - a discussion of resource

people still alive as well as those, now deceased, whose

recollections of the lighthouse were recorded.

III. Maps - a discussion of cartographic aspects of the project.

Copies of pertinent maps are found in the Historical Data

Section of the report.

IV. Illustrations - a summary and analysis of photographs and

other illustrative material included in the Historical

Data section of the report.

V. Historical Data - a packet of material which includes a

microfilm copy of the first lighthouse keeper's log, copies

of representative pages of other keepers' logs, xeroxes of

significant primary and secondary sources relating to the -3- lighthouse, copies of maps and illustrations, some of them in the form of slides intended to be used by the museum consultant for research purposes, and a cassette tape of an interview with lighthouse keeper Laureat Leclerc.

Bibliography - a list of over one hundred sources divided into two categories: 1. Lighthouses and 2. Hudson River and Hudson Valley -4-

I. SOURCES 0? INFORMATION

Historical Society of the Tarrytowns 1 Grove Street Tarrytown, New York 91^-631-837^

In view of the great interest in preserving the Kingsland Point

Lighthouse demonstrated by the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns over the years, it is not surprising that the organization's library has a valuable collection of material pertaining to the lighthouse.

Of special interest are:

Clipping files containing articles from Westchester and

New York City newspapers.

Pile of correspondence relating to lighthouse preservation

efforts

Material pertaining to Laureat Leclerc, lighthouse keeper

from 19^3 to 195**. In addition to detailed articles about dr.

Leclerc1s activities as keeper, the files contain his personnel

records and letters of commendation. A taped interview with

keeper Leclerc is also available at the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns and a cassette copy of this tape is included among the Historical Data accompanying this report. A rare issue of the Scientific American containing information about the construction of the lighthouse. See Historical Data Section for a copy. The Tarrytown Argus and Press Record on microfilm Maps and photographs which are described in the appropriate sections of this report. -5- It should be noted that Mrs. Adelaide R. Smith, curator,

Miss Ruth Neuendorffer, librarian, and Mrs. Mary Lawson, i'lrs. Lee

Vial, and Mrs. Ann Wilson of the library staff, Mrs. Lucille

Hutchinson, map consultant, and Mrs. Sylvia Nichols, assistant in the Map Division, are all knowledgeable and extremely helpful individuals.

Westchester County Historical Society 43 Read Avenue Tuckahoe, New York 914-DE 7-1753

Although the Westchester County Historical Society has an extensive collection of books, pamphlets, documents, clipping files and maps dealing with every community in the county, including Tarrytown and North Tarrytown, its Hudson River and lighthouse related holdings are limited to:

File on the Kingsland Point Lighthouse compiled by Frank Sanchis

as part of his Westchester architectural survey. The file

contains photographs taken in 1976 and a brief historical survey

of the site.

Charles H. Roe's article on the lighthouse appearing in the

Westchester Historian. (See bibliography for complete citation.)

Clipping files containing articles on the ecology of the Hudson

River and a reprint of the Pocantico Gazette containing an

advertisement for a steamboat serving Tarrytown.

A 1923 Rand Mc Nally map showing the location of the lighthouse.

(See Map section.) -6- a 1938 U.S. Geological Survey map on which the lighthouse

appears. (See Map Section.)

Hudson River Museum 511 Warburton Avenue Yonkers, New York 914-963-^550

Included in an enormous black box of Hudson River material

stored on the third floor of the museum are:

Nineteenth century periodical articles on the Hudson River

including the illustrated story of the burning of the Henry

Clay from Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion of 1852

two folders on the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909.

a folder of photographs of the Hudson River including views of the palisades but none of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse

photographs of steamboats

the August 23, 1897 issue of the magazine, Hudson River by

Daylight, containing advertisements and pictures,

Yonkers Public library Hudson River Museum Branch 511 Warburton Avenue Yonkers, New York 914-337-1500

The Yonkers Public Library's local history collection housed

in its own room in the Hudson River Museum Branch of the library contains a valuable box of postcard views of the Hudson River.

The relevance of this material to the Kingsland Point Lighthouse -7- Museum is discussed in the section of this report which deals with illustrations. The library also has a small collection of books on the Hudson River and Valley but most of these works, along with many others, can be obtained at the New York Historical Society.

The New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West New York, New York 10024 212-TR 3-3^+00

Material relative to the Kingsland Point Lighthouse Museum can be found in three separate areas of the New-York Historical Society: the Manuscript Division, the Print Division, and the library. Of primary importance in the Manuscript Division is the Hudson River Day Line Collection, an enormous array of ledgers, cash books, ticket account books and other items pertaining to steamboats which plyed the Hudson passing the kingsland Point Lighthouse daily, except during the coldest months of winter. Unfortunately, although the Manuscript Division has some material on the Roundout Lighthouse, there is nothing on the Kingsland Point Lighthouse. Nevertheless, in the Print Division, the following items of interest can be found:

an 1886 photograph of the lighthouse. (See Illustrations section.)

Robert Havell's late nineteenth century views of the river from Tarrytown Heights.

Panoramic Map of the Hudson River. (See Map section.)

Assorted Illustrations of Hudson River steamboats. The library of the New-York Historical Society has a comprehen­ sive collection of books and periodical articles dealing with the history, geography, and ecology of the Hudson Valley. Almost all of the works listed in the bibliography which forms part of this report can be found at the New-York Historical Society. Although each' publication enhances the reader's awareness of the beauty and historical significance of the Hudson River, the following books, for which complete bibliographic citations appear later in this report, were especially helpful:

Carmer, Carl.L. The Hudson. Ringwald, Donald C. Hudson River Day Line. Ringwald, Donald C. The Mary Powell. The following work found in the library of the New-York Historical Society contains a good photograph of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse:

Panorama of the Hudson from Albany to New York. Pictures and historical data can also be found in Ruth P. Glunt's Lighthouses and Legends of the Hudson. In addition to this work, the library of the New-York Historical Society has a small collection on general lighthouse history and the Annual Report of the Operations of the Lighthouse Board for the period 1897/98 - 1904/05.

New York Public Library 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue New York, New York 212-790-6161

Although the New York Fublic Library has a good collection of books dealing with the Hudson River, the works are scattered among -9- the general collection, the local history collection (both in the main building), and the annex on West 43rd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. One who visits all three locations quickly concludes that Hudson River research can be done more efficiently at the New York Historical Society where everything is, at least, in the same building. On the other hand, it is impossible to deny that the New York Public Library possesses a number of items not discovered else­ where. One is the Walker & Co. map discussed in the Map Seuoiun vi this report. Another is Arnold B. Johnson's Report Upon the Exhibit of the Light-House Board at the World's Columbian Exposition (See bibliography for complete citation.) which contains a very interesting section on lighthouse keepers. A copy of this material is included in the Historical Data section of this report.

Aside from the Johnson Report, stored in the Annex of the New York Public Library, the following works available in the Science and Technology Division of the main library are helpful:

Armstrong, Warren. White for Danger. (See bibliography for complete citation for this and other works.) Lewis, William J. Ceaseless Vigil. Mariner's Museum. Lighthouses and Other Aids to the Mariner. U.S. Lighthouse Service. The U.S. Lighthouse Service 1915.

South Street Seaport 203 Front Street New York, New York 10038 212-766-9020

In contrast with the New York Historical Society and tne New

York Public Library, the South Street Seaport on the lower east side -10- of Manhattan has a smaller collection of material relating to the Hudson River. Besides the standard works on the history of the nudson Valley and steam navigation, the Seaport's library has a number of items which are of special interest. They are: Clipping files: Hudson River/New York City #1 consisting of

travel guides. Hudson River/New York City ^2 contains articles on the ecology of the river.

Hudson River by Daylight, a booklet published by the Hudson River Day Line in 1914. In addition to delightful colonial lore, this publication contains statistical information about steamboats.

Menu from the Alexander Hamilton.

Hudson River Day Line time tables and list of fares.

The print collection of the South Street Seaport Museum may yield additional material but it is presently in storage awaiting a move to permanent new quarters.

Marine Historical Association Mystic Seaport Mystic, Connecticut 203-536-2631

Although one would not expect to find Kingsland Point Lighthouse material in far off eastern Connecticut, the Marine Historical

Association's excellent reputation convinced this researcher that it was worth a try and indeed it was. The Manuscript Division of the G. W. Blunt 'White Library yielded a picture of Fred Fleck, the last keeper at Kingsland Point, in a rowboat with the lighthouse in -li­ the background. The illustration, which is part of the Bonney

Collection on American and foreign lighthouses, is included in the

Historical Data section of this report.

Other items of interest in the general collection of the G.W.

Blunt White Library are:

Franklin Institute. Report...on the Dioptric System of

Augustln Fresnel. (A Fresnel lens was used at Kingsland Point.

Michelet, Jules. The Sea.

Morrison, John H. History of American Steam Navigation.

Schroeder, Seaton. "Light-House Administration in the U.S."

Excerpts from this 1882 work are included in the Historical

Data section of the report.

Complete citations for these works will be found in the bibliography attached to this report. Another item of interest found at Mystic Seaport is the reproduction of the lighthouse which stands at the entrance to Nantucket Harbor. Like the Kingsland Point Lighthouse prior to its retirement, this lighthouse is equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens.

Coast Guard Academy Library New London, Connecticut 203-443-8463

The Coast Guard Academy has a truly superb collection of primary and secondary sources relating to lighthouses. In the lacter category the most helpful works consulted at New London were: -12- Heap, David. P. Ancient and Modern Light-Houses. (See bibliography for complete citation.)

Johnson, Arnold B. The Modern Light-House Service. A xerox copy of a portion of this work is included in the Historical Data section of the report.

Putnam, George F. Sentinels of the Coasts.

Portions of official government reports containing useful information were xeroxed at the Coast Guard Academy Library and are included in the Historical Data section of this report. In addition to the reports, the Coast Guard Academy Library has an extensive collection of books dealing with lighthouses throughout the world. Useful for comparative purposes, these volumes, together with the rest of the material in the library, can be consulted by qualified researchers who, with the permission of Mr. Paul Johnson, director of the library, are given direct access to the stacks. Thus instead of waiting for material to be delivered, the researcher obtains the books himself thereby saving his own time and that of library staff members.

National' Archives Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. 202-253-3173

In contrast with the time effectiveness of the research conducted at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, the work done at the National Archives was time consuming in the extreme despite -13- the fact that the researcher had made appointments by long-distance telephone to see specific material on certain dates. An absent archivist, reassignment to a substitute records expert, and the inadequacy of personnel and equipment for transporting material to the research room complicated and lengthened the research. Despite these obstacles, the following items from Record Group 26 were examined and copies of pertinent material secured for inclusion in the Histor­ ical Data section of this report:

Index cards for letters concerning the lighthouse. Although correspondence relating to the lighthouse was destroyed in a fire at the Department of Commerce in 1921, copies of some items preserved in Letter Books survived and were reproduced upon request.

Letters to the Engineer. Third Light-House District.

Letters to the Inspector. Third Coast Guard District.

Light-House Board Minutes: 1880-1906.

Records of Light-House Keepers' Salaries.

State of New York File #126: Title Papers

U.S. Light-House Board. Annual Reports.

U.S. Light-House Establishment. Instructions to Light-Keecers:1881,

Although important documents and representative examples of routine reports and correspondence are included in the Historical

Data section of this report, it should be noted that much of the -Im­ material in the National Archives, while valuable and worthy of examination by others interested in the Kingsland Point Lighthouse in the future, is routine and repetitious. Some of this data will prove useful, however, in developing exhibits and interpretive material for the museum and for this reason the researcher has selected various types of primary sources from the Archives for inclusion in the Historical Data section of this report.

Washington National Records Center Suitland, Maryland 202-763-7410

The log books of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, the most important source of information about the daily routine and problems of the various lighthouse keepers, are stored at the Washington National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. Getting to Suitland poses no problem for the researcher because the government operates a shuttle bus between the main building of the National Archives in downtown Washington and the Washington National Records Center. Obtaining lighthouse log books, however, can be a major feat involving, as it did in the case of this researcher, periodic conferences with an archivist who kept insisting that either the log books were never accessioned by the National Archives or that the lighthouse was listed under a name other than the three (Tarrytown, North Tarrytown, and Kingsland Point) given by the researcher. Even when the researcher produced a copy of Colonel Charles H. Roe's article on the lighthouse (See bibliography) which mentions the existence and storage location, in the 1960's, of the log books, the archivist pointed to a brief -15- official list of lighthouses whose log books are preserved at Suitland and insisted that nae of the three names given him appeared on the roster. In reality, they do not and that is the problem. When the list was prepared, instead of including the names of every lighthouse for which log books were available, alphabetical categories in which the names of the first and last lighthouses in each group appear were used. Tarrytown, the official name of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, became lost in a box of T'sJ Unaware of this, the archivist attempted to persuade the researcher that the log books were not at Suitland.

Realizing the importance of this primary source for exhibits and interpretive programs at the Kingsland Point Lighthouse Museum, the researcher refused to take no for an answer. After mere than an hour of sitting in the reception area, the researcher requested the archivist to check with the experts at the main building of the National Archives and at the Coast Guard, the agency which deposited the log books in the National Archives. The archivist was willing to call the National Archives and leave messages for people there to return his call. As for the Coast Guard, the archivist at Suitland informed the researcher that although the Coast Guard had the legal responsibility for knowing where their records were located, it was not the archivist's duty to contact themj Nor was it his duty, the archivist said, to attempt to track down the log books at the one other repository where they might have been sent, the New York Area Federal Records Center at 3ayonne, New Jersey. -16-

Since long experience using library photocopying machines has

instilled in the researcher the habit of carrying rolls of dimes,

it was possible for the researcher to utilize a pay phone in the hall

outside the reception room to call both Coast Guard headquarters

in Washington, D.C. and Terry Metchette, the National Archives

expert on Record Group 26. Although both Dr. Robert Scheina, Coast

Guard historian, whose name had been given to the researcher by the

director of the Coast Guard Academy library at New London, Connecticut,

and Mr. Michael O'Brien, who is in charge of public relations for the

Coast Guard, said that the log books should be at Suitland, they very

courteously suggested that if the books could not be located, the

researcher should go to Coast Guard headquarters in downtown Washington

where an investigation would be launched. Happily, this proved unnecessary because Terry Metchette, within ten minutes of the

researcher's call, figured out the log book filing system. Thus,

two hours and forty-five minutes after arriving at Suitland,the

researcher finally gained access to the log books for the period

1883 to 1947.

In view of his long tenure and interesting experiences, Captain

Jacob Ackerman, the first keeper, produced the most significant log book. For this reason a microfilm copy of his log was obtained and

is included in the Historical Data section of this report. The same reel of microfilm contains representative entries from the logs of other keepers. Print-outs of some of this material, together with pages from the Ackerman book, are included in the Historical Data

section of this report for use by the museum consultant who may wish -17- to employ some of this material in exhibits.

Log books for the final period of the lighthouses's history, beginning in 1948, have not been formally accessioned by the National

Archives and are, therefore, not generally available to researchers.

Special arrangements can be made with the Coast Guard by persons wishing to see this material but until they are accessioned, the books pose problems as far as reproduction and utilization,for exhibit and interpretive purposes, of material therein contained.

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of History and Technology Washington, D.C. 202-381-5294

The discovery of the Guide to Manuscript Collections in the National Museum of History and Technology at the G. W. Blunt White Library in Mystic, Connecticut prompted the researcher to visit three behind the scenes areas of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History and Technology. In the first, the Mechanical and Civil Engineering History Collection, illustrations of various lighthouses, including the famous Eddystone and Minot's Ledge, were discovered, together with a photograph of an unidentified lighthouse which looked very much like Kingsland Point. Mr. Robert Voegel, the official in charge of the division, however, felt that the lighthouse depicted in the photograph appeared to be a coastal light. He based his conclusion upon the background of the photograph.

The second area of the National Museum of History and Technology visited by the researcher, the Naval History Division, yielded numerous illustrations of fourth order Fresnel lenses, the type used -18- at Kingsland Point, but no pictures specifically identified as the

Tarrytown lens. The Marine Transportation Division, the third area visited, similarly produced a variety of lighthouse plans but none for the Kingsland Point Lighthouse.

However, in the museum itself, there is a fine model of the steamboat Hendrick Hudson which plyed the waters of the Hudson River traveling past the Kingsland Point Lighthouse. Since the model, which was a gift of the Hudson River Day Line, is part of a temporary exhibit; on American Maritime History, perhaps some arrangements could be made with the Smithsonian to borrow the model for the Kingsland Point

Lighthouse Museum.

Elsewhere in the Smithsonian, in the Arts and Sciences Building, a first order Fresnel lens made by the Paris firm of Barbier, Benard and Turenne is on display as part of an 1876 Centennial exhibition.

Although the Kingsland Point lens was a fourth order lens, it was manufactured by the same firm. The museum consultant may, therefore, wish to contact the Smithsonian about this artifact.

Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 202-287-5000 The extensive card catalogue of the Library of Congress contains excellent material on lighthouses, much of it available at the Coast

Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. The Manuscript Division, located in the Thomas Jefferson Building, has no holdings on lighthouses but it does have the papers of American Treasury Secretaries who, in the nineteenth century, had overall responsibility for lighthouses.

Dr. Oliver Orr of the Manuscript Division, with whom the researcher -19- conferred, suggested that a look at this material might yield something but that the chances were slim. He felt that the National Archives ani the New York Times Index, which the researcher had previously consulted, woul-1 yield far more material.

Other Sources of Information

Since Westchester County is not alone in saving an historic

lighthouse, the museum consultant may wish to contact the following

institutions for additional information about restored lighthouses:

Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons. Maryland 20688 (301-326-37ly).

The interpretive program here focuses on the lifestyle of the

lighthouse keeper. Since Westchester County is considering a

similar approach, it would be worthwhile to speak with officials

of this museum.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Hichaelst| Maryland 21663 (301-745-2916). Although the interior of the lighthouse is utilized for displays of photographs and aids to navigation, rather than to interpret the keeper's lifestyle, it might be worthwhile for the museum consultant to contact the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

Closer to home, the Northport. Lone; Island Historical Society' was instrumental in having the Eaton's Neck Lighthouse declared a landmark. Although the lighthouse, on the grounds of the Eaton's

Neck Coast Guard Station, is not a museum per se, it can be visited.

Por more information contact the Coast Guard station at 516-

263-6759 or- Dr. Hhoads, director of the Northport Historical society -20-

at 516-757-9859. A copy of the historical society's booklet on the

history of the lighthouse is included in the Historical Data section.

of this report.

Aside from lighthouses, the Museum of the City of New York at

Fifth Avenue and 105th Street (212-534-l672)may prove to be a source

of Hudson River material although the museum's curatorial department

informed this researcher that a museum staff member, who was previously

contacted in connection with the Kingsland Point Lighthouse Museum

project, turned up no relevant material in the collections of tne

Museum of the City of New York.

The new Hudson Maritime Heritage Museum planned for

Roundout Creek in Kingston, New York, may yield something of

value. Two articles about the museum are included in the

Historical Data section of this report. Since the museum's

objectives are similar to some of the goals of the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse Museum, the museum consultant may wish to take

a close look at what is planned for Kingston.

Two other sources of information thoroughly explored by the

researcher were the clipping files of the Warner Library, 121 flortn

Broadway, Tarrytown, New York (914-631-2189) and The New YorK Times

from 1881 to date under the subject headings Hudson Hiver, lighthouses,

North Tarrytown, and Tarrytown. The limited holdings of the Warner

Library were xeroxed and are included in the Historical Data section

of this report. Further investigation by the museum consultant is -21- unnecessary. The New York Times, is available on microfilm at a number of libraries in Westchester County but for ease of access plus superior equipment for reproducing articles, the Greenwich,

Connecticut Library, West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich (203-622-7900) is the preferred research location. Since copies of pertinent

Times articles are included in the Historical Data section of this report, however, the museum consultant should have no occasion to consult the microfilm. As with other segments of the lighthouse material, the historical researcher will be available to answer questions and provide additional material. -22-

II. LIVING INFORMATION SOURCES

If the term "living information sources" used by the County

in its proposal solicitation for the Kingsland Point Lighthouse

Museum is interpreted broadly, two of the best sources are recorded

interviews involving men no longer alive. On June 22, 1956 the well known broadcaster Edward R. Murrcw,now deceased, took CBS television cameras to the Kingsland Point lighthouse for a visit with keeper Richard Moreland, his wife, and baby, although a

legal question concerning rights to the "Person to Person" programs has prevented CBS from releasing the interview with Coast Guardsman

Moreland, the County may wish to take up this matter with the network when planning for the Kingsland Point Lighthouse Museum enters tne

implementation stage. The person to contact is Mr. Joseph Bellon,

C3S Television, 51 West 52nd Street, New York City. Depending upon the aonroach recommended by the County's museum consultant, the

"Person to Person" interview can be utilized in a variety of ways,

e.g. screening of the program hourly or at stated intervals several

times a day to acquaint visitors with life at the light station in

the mid-1950's, presentation of video and audio excerpts from the

program, or utilization of the video portion with a vciceover by a narrator explaining changes at the lighthouse in the post-war period.

Another excellent "living information" source is the interview conducted with Laureat Leclerc, keeper of the lighthouse from 19^3

to 1954.Mr. Christopher Lennox of the Historical Society of the

Tarrytowns journeyed to Old'Saybrook, Connecticut where Mr. i-eclerc was keeper of the Lynde Point Lighthouse. Since Laureat i-eclerc died a few years ago, it is indeed fortunate that Mr. Lennox, one of the -23- prime movers in the effort to prevent demolition of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, interviewed him when he did. Covering such topics as the daily routine of a lighthouse keeper, mechanical aspects of aids to navigation and biographical details of Mr, Leclerc's life, the interview is truly a gem and once the County secures permission in writing from the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns, Laureat Leclerc's reminiscences can be used in whole or part to illustrate life at the Kingsland Point light station. With this in mind, a cassette copy of the original reel to reel tape owned by the Histor­ ical Society of the Tarrytowns has been made and is included among the Historical oata accompanying this report.

Depending upon the scope of the museum planned for the lighthouse, the efforts of Christopher Lennox and other concerned local citizens to save the lighthouse might be explained by having the people in question speak for themselves on tape. Another person whose taped reminiscences of the lighthouse during the last few decades of its active service might prove interesting to visitors is Joseph Margotta, superintendent of Kingsland Point Park. Mr. Margotta*s first-hand observations of Hudson River navigation, including the old ferries which plyed between Tarrytown and Nyack, passenger steamboats, and modern oil tankers plus his recollections of winters along, the river would add a unique dimension to the story of the lighthouse and the river of which it is an integral part. Should the museum consultant deem it advisable, an effort could also be made to round out the story of the lighthouse by conducting interviews with Fred Fleck, the last keeper, and the U.S. Navy personnel who manned the light: station during part of World War II. -24- It should be noted, however, that even if the wartime keepers are still alive, the seventy-five year privacy regulation governing personnel records might make it difficult, if not impossible, to establish contact with the former lighthouse keepers whose records are on file at the St. Louis Personnel Records Center, 111 Winebago Street, St. Louis, Missouri (314-425-5759). The results of this researcher's efforts to obtain information from St. Louis can be found in a letter included in the Historical Data section of the report. Should the County wish to pursue this matter, the researcher will be hapoy to initiate action of the type suggested in the letter from

Ethel L. Price, Chief, Civilian Reference BranchrLt. Louis Personnel Records Center. -25-

III. MAPS

Included in the Historical Data section of this report are copies of the following maps:

blueprint of the original offshore site of the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse included in the site file for the lighthouse

in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

portion of a tourist map of the Hudson River published by Rand Mc Nally in 1923, indicating the location of the lighthouse and labeling it "Tarrytown L.H." The map,which is in the clipping files of the Westchester County Historical Society, shows the relationship between the lighthouse and the Kingsland Point peninsula.

lower portion of a map of the Hudson River showing the route of the Day Line steamer in 1930. The lighthouse appears as a red dot. A slide of this map from the collections of the Histor­ ical Society of the Tarrytowns is included in the Historical Data section of this report.

U.S. Geological Survey map of the Tarrytown, New York quadrangle, edition of April, 1902. reprinted 1928 - slide of map at Histor­ ical Society of the Tarrytowns.

A Suggestion for Improvement of the Tappan Zee by John A. Miller, Tarrytown, New York (May 1929). Slide from a map in the collections of the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns showing area to be filled in, including the site of the lighthouse. -26-

section of a Rand Mc Nally map of the Hudson riiver (1926).

Slide is from the original in the collection of the Historical

Society of the Tarrytowns.

#23 map of Mt. Pleasant and Ossining in Julius Bien & Co. atlas of Westchester County, New York (1893). Slide: Historical Socieity of the Tarrytowns.

Section 7 of Atlas of the Hudson River Valley from New York City to Troy by F. W. Beers (1397) . Slide: Historical Society of the Tarrytowns.

If additional maps are required for the Kingsland Point Lighthouse

Museum, the following should be considered:

Map of the Hudson River District. Eoston: Ge. H. Walker

U.S. Geological Survey Map of Westchester County (1936). Westchester County Historical Society.

Maps of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse and other Hudson riiver lighthouses included in the Hudson River Valley Commission's The Hudson River Lighthouses. (See bibliography for complete citation.)

Although the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was not considered enough of an attraction to be indicated on ^ost tourist maps of the Hudson

River, all or part of one or more of these maps might be utilized to illustrate the principal sites along the river. Through exhibit labeling,, perhaps the point could be made that without the sturdy -27- llghthouses of the Hudson, passenger carrying steamboats may have run aground thereby preventing tourists from enjoying the various sites depicted on the maps. Representative tourist maps and booklets of the Hudson River include:

Guide to the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains. New York:

Rand Mc Nally & Co., 1909 - Yonkers Public Library Hudson

River Museum Branch.

Panoramic Map of the Hudson River. New York: American Bank Note Company, 1882 - New York Historical Society Print Division.

Rand Mc Nally Hudson River Guide. New York: Rand Mc Nally a Co. 1915. - New York Public Library Map Division. -28-

IV. ILLUSTRATIONS

The Historical Data section of this report contains the following illustrations gathered in the course of the historical research:

an 1886 photograph of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse from the

Print Division of the New-York Historical Society.

photographs taken at the time of the "Person to Person"

Interview with keeper Moreland in 1956. These were obtained

from the Third Coast Guard District Headquarters, Governor's

Island, New York.

Two illustrations of the lighthouse from the January 5, 1^84

issue of the Scientific American.

slides of lighthouse Photographs in the collection of the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns. These are intended to be study materials for the museum consultant. If some of these illustrations are used in the Kingsland Point Lighthouse Museum, high quality photographic reproductions will be required as well as the written permission of the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns.

A postcard of the lighthouse sold by the Historical Society of the Tarrytowns. Please note that this illustration cannot be used without the permission of Wally Buxton. For additional information and clarification, contact Mrs. Adelaide Smith,

curator of the historical society. -29-

If additional illustrations are needed, the following are good sources:

U.S. Coast Guard, 'Washington, D.C. 20590-attention; Dr.

Robert Scheina - two photographs of the lighthouse, one taken

in 1958, the other in 1968.

the Hudson River Museum branch of the Yonkers Public Library - Hudson Valley postcard collection which includes illustrations of many Day Line steamboats.

'Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and

Conservation, White Plains, New York - rare photograph of the

dirigible Hinder.burg flying over the Kingsland Point Lighthouse.

Hudson River Kuseura - items mentioned in Part I of this report.

New-York Historical Society - items mentioned in Part I of this

report. New York Public Library - Print Room - Hudson River Portfolio: Views of the iudsor. River -30-

V. HISTORICAL DATA

The historical data provided by the researcher includes the

following: photocopies of pertinent primary and secondary sources

a microfilm copy of the complete log of the first lighthouse

keeper and selected pages of other keepers' logs

taped interview with Laureat Leclerc

. Photocopies and slides of maps

still photographs

slides of illustrations the museum consultant may wish to

recommend for inclusion in exhibits

In addition to the material listed above, the historian has provided the museum consultant with a set of research notes. This portion of the Historical Data in no way purports to be a literary effort like the manuscript which constitutes Part B of this report. It is intended to be raw material for the museum consultant. Any questions the consultant may have about this data will be promptly and cheerfully answered by the historian. -31- VI: BIBLIOGRAPHY*

Lighthouses

Adams, William H. Lighthouses and Lightships: A Description and Historical Account of their Mode of Construction and Organ­ ization. New York: C. Scribner £ Co., 1870. "

Armstrong, Warren. White for Danger: True Dramas of Lightships and Lighthouses^ New York: J. Day, 1963. " ~~~ Barnard, John Gross. "Lighthouse Engineering as Displayed at the Centennial Exhibition." American Society of Civil Engineers Transactions, VIII (1879), 55-94. Beaver, Patrick. A History of Lighthouses. London: P. Davies, 1971. Carse, Robert. Keepers of the Lights: A History of American Lighthouses. New York: Scribner. 1969. Chadwick, Lee. Lighthouses and Lightships. London: Dcbson, 1971.

Chase, Mary Ellen. The Story of Lighthouses. New York: Norton, 19o5.

Clark, Thomas A. The Sea is My Neighborhood: A Lighthouse Keeper's Story. Christchurch, Eng.: Whitcombe a Tombs, T9&X Collins, Francis A. Sentinels Along our Coast. New York: D. Appleton's Century Corp., 1938. "~ "~"

Corbin, Thomas W. The Romance of Lighthouses and Lifeboats, Philadelphia: J. B. Lipincott, 1925.

De Gast, Robert. The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. "The Early Lighthouse Service." Steamboat Bill. June, 1970, pp. 37-40. Floherty, John J. Sentries of the Sea. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1942. ~'"

Franklin Institute. Report of the French Government on the Dioptric System of Augustin Fresnel for the Illumination cf Lighthouses. rhiladelphia: Grottan and Mc Lean, 1050. " "'""""""""""

Giambarba, Faul. Lighthouses. Barre, Mass.: Scrimshaw Press, 1969. Hague, Douglas B. Lighthouses: Their Architecture. History and Archaeology. Llandysul,Eng.: Gomer Press, 1975. Heap, David P. Ancient and Modern Light-Houses. Bostcn: Ticknor h Company, 1889. "~~~"" ~ " ~~ " "'

*This bibliography consists primarily of secondary sources. For a discussion of primary sources, see Sources of Information; national -32-

Henry, Joseph. "An Account of Investigations Relative to Illuminating Materials." Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution. (1881): 483-5071 * Hingsburg, Frederick C. Notes on Lighthouse Practice. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 19^1.

Jackson, Derrick. Lighthouses of England and Wales. North Pomfret, Vt.: David and Charles, 1975. Jenkins, H. D. The Lights and Tides of the World. London: J. Imray k Son, 1900. Johnson, Arnold B. The Modern Light-House Service. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1890.

Report Upon the Exhibit of the Light-House Board at * "Erie World's Columbian Expositioru Washington: U.S. Light- House Board, 1894. Langmaid, Kenneth J. The Sea. Thine Enemy: A Survey of Coastal Lights and Life-Boat Services. London: Jarrolds, 1966.

Lewis, William J. Ceaseless Vigil: My Lonely Years in the Lighthouse Service. London: Harrap, 1970. The Lights and Tides of the World Including a Description of All the Fog Signals" London: Imray, Laurie, Norie, and "" "~ Wilson, Ltd., 1931. Mariner's Museum. Lighthouses and Other Aids to Mariners. Newport News, Va.: Mariner's Museum, 19^b. """"" ———-

Mc Cormick, William H. •The Modern Book of Lighthouses. Life- Boats and Lightships. London: A. <& C. Black Ltd., 1936.

Michelet, Jules. The Sea. London: Nelson, 18?5. Parker, Tony.. Lighthouse. New York: Taplinger, 1976. Parsons, Charles. "Montauk Point Light, Long Island." Harper's Monthly. XLIII (1371): 481-93. ^ " ~'~ Perry, Matthew C. Communication from the President of the United States. Transmitted in Compliance with a Resolution of the" Senate: A Copy of the Report of Captain M. C. Perry in " Relation to the Light-Houses of England and France. Washing­ ton, D.C.: Blair & Rives, 1840. "—'- •• — ••=•-—•

Price, Eugenia. Lighthouse. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1971. Putnam, George R. LighthnnsRs *"* Lightships of the United states. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933. -33- . "New Safeguards for Ships in Fog and Storm." National -geographic. LXX (1936): .169-200. . Sentinels of the Coasts: The Log of a Lighthouse ""Engineer; New York: Norton, 1937.

Schroeder, Seaton. "Light-House Administration in the U.S. Navy Department." Annual Report. I (1882): '236-46.

Schureman, Paul. "Tides and Currents in the Hudson River." U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey: Special Publication No. 180. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934. ' Simon, Mina L. Lighthouses of America. New York: Criterion Books, 1964.

Stevenson, David A. The World's Lighthouses Before 1820. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. """""" — —

Talbot, Frederick and Ambrose, Arthur. Lightships and Lighthouses. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1913. ~"~ ""**"" ' """'"" U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses. Activities of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Washington, D.o.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937. . Annual Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office: 1910-1938. ___. Civil Service Regulations for the Lighthouse Service. Washington, u.u.; U.S. Government Printing Office, 1928. . Instructions to Employees of the U.S. Lighthouse "~~" Service. 1915. Washington,D.L,: U.S. Government Printing Office, 19137 . Lighthouse Service Bulletin. Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912-1939. . Regulations for the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Washington, DTC.: U.S. Government Frinting Office, 1918' Z 1927. . The U.S. Lighthouse Service. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1923, U.S. Coast Guard. Complete List of Lights and Other Marine nids, Atlantic Coast of the U.S. Washington,D.C.• U.S. Government Printing Office, 19<+2 & 1960.

Guide to Historically Famous Lighthouses in the United StTates"! Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939 <& 1950.

. Historically Famous Lighthouses. Washington,D.C.: _ g-3^ (jovernment printing Office, 1972. -34-

, The Significance of. Aids to Marine Navigation. "Washington,D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943.

U.S. Congress. House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. U.S. Lighthouse Service. Hearing Before the Special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries to Investigate the Problems and Needs of the Bureau of•Lighthouses. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937. U.S. Department of Commerce. The U.S. Department of Commerce: How It Serves You on Land and Sea. Washington.D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938.

U.S. Hydrographic Office. List of Lights and Fog Signals. Washington.D.C.; U.S. Government Printing Office, 1888. U.S. Laws, Statutes. Laws and Regulations Relating to the Lighthouse Establishment of the U.S. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880 £ 1904.

U.S. Light-House Board. Annual Report of the Operations of the Light-House Board. Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1852-1910.

. Instructions to Light-Keepers: July 1881. Washington, DTC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1881. . Instructions to Light-Keepers: 1911. Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1911. . Laws Relative to the Light-House Establishment Passed a£ theTst Session of the 56th Congress: 1899-19007 "~ Washington,D>.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1900.

. List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the U.S. Washington,D.^: U.S. Government Printing Office: 1900, 1902 a 1907. . Management of Lens Apparatus and Lamps. . Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1872. . Report of a Tour of Inspection of European Light-House Establishments. Made in 1873 by Major-General H. Elliot. ~ Washington.D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1874.

U.S. Lighthouse Service. The U.S. Lighthouse Service 1915. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1916. Weiss, George. The Lighthouse Service. Its History. Activities and Organization.Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926. Whitney, Dudley. The Lighthouse. 3oston: New York Graphic Society,1978. Willoughby, Malcom F. Lighthouses of New England. Boston: T.0. Met calf Company, 1929. ~ "*" -35- Hudson River and Hudson Valley

Abbott, Arthur P. The Hudson River Today and Yesterday. New York: Historian Publishing Company, 1915.

Atkinson, B. "Setting Sail for Yesterday." Audubon, March 1971, pp. 73-87. Bacon, Edgar M. The Hudson River from Ocean to Source. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1903. ~~

Ballantine, William. "New York's Great River." Holiday. XXXVI (1964), 21-28.

Barten, Isabel. "The Search for the Shad Boat." The Log of Mystic Seaport. XXVII (1976), 112-0.17. Bowen, Croswell. Great River of the Mountains: The Hudson. New York: Hastings House, 1941. """""""

Boyle, Robert. The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History. New York: Norton, 1969.

Brown, Henry C The Lordly Hudson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937.

Bruce, Wallace. The Hudson. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin

Buckman, David L. Old Steamboat Days on the Hudson River. New York: The Grafton Press, 1967. Canning, Jeff and Buxton, Wally. History of the Tarrytowns. Harrison, N.Y.: Harbor Hill Books, 1975.

Gartner, Carl L. The Hudson. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

. "The Hudson." Holiday, VI (1949), 34-41; 82-83. Clough, Francis G. Following the Hudson: Selected Prose and Verse. Laramie, Wyoming: 1968. Dyson, John S. Our Historic Hudson. Roosevelt, N.Y.: James B. Adler, Inc., 1968. "" Glunt, Ruth P. Lighthouses and Legends of the Hudson. Monroe, N.Y.: Library Research Associates, 1975.

Greene, Nelson, ed. History of the Valley of the Hudson. River of Destiny. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1931. -36-

Havell, Harry P. "Robert Havell's Views of the Hudson from Tarrytown Heights." New York Historical Society quarterly. XXXI (194?), 160-62. Hope, Jack. A River for the Living. Barre, Mass.: Barre Publishing, 1975. "The Hudson: Marcy to Manhattan." Audubon. March 1971, PP. 17-58.

Hudson River Day Line Magazine. 1890-1929. Hudson River Day Line: The Most Charming Inland Water Trip on " the American Continent. New York: Press of R.L. Stillson CO., 1903. "The Hudson River: Its Beauty Since Colonial Days." Victory. Ill (1945), 32-35. Hudson River Magazine. I-IV (May 1938 - May 1941). Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc. Hudson River Sloops: A Brief History and Technical Description. New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1970.

Hudson River Valley Commission of New York. The Hudson River Lighthouses. New York: Hudson River Valley Commission, T&T. Johnson, Clifton. The Picturesque Hudson. New York: Macmillan, 1909. Kahn, E.J., Jr. "The Hudson River." Holiday. XLIV (1966), 40-55; 83-89. Keller, Allan. Life Along the Hudson. Tarrytown: Sleepy Hollow Restoration, 1976.

Link, William F. The Hudson by Daylight. New York: Day Line Steamers, 187HT ='"~'

Lossing, Benson J. The Hudson from the Wilderness to the Sea. New York: Virtue and Yorston, 1886. Mac Neer, May. The Hudson: River of History. Champaign, Illinois: Garrard Publishing Co., 1962.

Merchant, E. 0. "The Commerce of the Hudson River." U.S. National Waterways Commission. Final Report. Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912.

Morrison, John H. History of American Steam Navigation. New York: W. F. Sametz & Co., 1903. -37- Mylod, John. Biography of a River: The People and Legends of the Hudson Valley" New York:Hawthorn Eooks, 1969.

New York State Hudson River Valley Commission. The Hudson's Historic Sites. Bear Mt., N.Y.: Hudson River Valley Commission, 1961.

Panorama of the Hudson from Albany to New York. New York: Bryant Literary Union, 1888.

Radcliffe, W. H. Hudson River Sightseeing Map Booklet. New York: N.A. Radcliffe, 1907 & 1910.

Rand Mc Nally & Co. Illustrated Guide to the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains. Chicago: Rand Mc Nally & Co., 1907

Reed, John. The Hudson River Valley. New York: C & N. Potter, i960.

Ringwald, Donald C Hudson River Day Line: The Story of a Great American Steamboat Company. Berkeley, Calif.: Howell- " North Books, 1965. . The Mary Powell. Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North Sooks, 1972. Roe, Charles H. "The Tarrytown Lighthouse." The Westchester Historian. XLIV (1968), 73-7§.

Saunders, A. "Memories of Steamboat Days on the Hudson, 1884 to 1907." American Neptune. XVIII (1958), 223-34.

Shelley, Donald C. "William Guy Wall and His Watercolors for the Historic Hudson River Portfolio." New York Historical Society Quarterly. XXXI (1947), 25-45. ""~ ~ Springer, Walter G. The Hudson and Its Moods. New York: Rogers and Company, 19^9. Stanton, Samuel Ward. The Flyers of the Hudson: Hudson River Steamboats. Meriden:Meriden Gravure Co., 1956. " Stories of the Hudson. New York: G.p. Putnam and Sons, 1871. Taintor, Charles N. The Hudson River Route. New York: Taintor Brothers, 1877 & 1889. Van Zandt, Roland, comp. Chronicles of the Hudson: Three Centuries of Travelers' Accounts. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1971. Verplanck, William S. and Collyer, Moses W. The Sloops of the Hudson. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. " " -38-

Whitson, S. The Hudson River: One Hundred Years Ago. Albuqerque: Sun Books, 1975.

Wilkie, Richard W. The Illustrated Hudson r.jver Pilot. Albanv: Three City Press, 1974.

Wilstack, Faul. Hudson River Landing. Indianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Company, 1933.

Zabriskie, George A. "Rainbow on the River." New York Historical Society Quarterly. XXV (1941), 143. ~~ "~ ~~ HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPORT ON THE KINGSLAND POINT LIGHTHOUSE

PART B

SHINING LIGHT ON THE- HUDSON

THE STORY OF THE

KINGSLAND POINT LIGHT ROUSE The task of uncovering the material which forms the basis of the story of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was greatly facilitated by the following individuals and organizations whom the author would like to acknowledge:

Historical Society of the Tarrytowns: Mrs. Adelaide Smith

and Mr. Christopher Lennox.

National Archives, Washington, D.C: Terry Metchette

Coast Guard Academy,Library, New London, Connecticut: Mr. Paul Johnson.

In addition, the author would like to recognize Wally Buxton, Colonel Charles H. Roe and Ruth Glunt whose writings on the Kingsland Point Lighthouse are valuable and informative. Complete bibliographic citations for the works of these authors appear in the bibliographic note at .the end of this booklet. SHINING LIGHT ON THE HUDSON: THE STORY OF THE KINGSLAND POINT LIGHTHOUSE

On a bone chilling January day in 1893, the sound of a human voice penetrated the stillness of the frozen Hudson. It was Captain Jacob Ackerman, keeper of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, calling, "Ship AhoyJ" to a brave soul returning from a trek across the river to Nyack, In the ten years that Captain Ackerman nad been on the job, he had never experienced such a cold winter. Ice was common in the Hudson for several months each year but day after day of frigid weather was not the rule.

With ice a foot thick on the river and the thermometer plummeting at onepoint to fourteen degrees below zero, the Captain was surprised to see a visitor walking towards the snug lighthouse a quarter mile from the east bank of the Hudson at Kingsland Point, North Tarrytown. The adventurous traveler was none other than a local newspaperman from the Tarrytown- Argus.Hoping tocapture a big story instead of the customary fish from beneath the icy stillness of the river, the man ventured out onto the mysteriously quiet Hudson. His trip across the wide expanse of the Tappan Zee was uneventful though beautiful. The long walk over and back reminded him of trapsing through a desert. Secure in the ; knowledge that the still waters of the Hudson were firm beneath his feet, he felt privileged to have made this journey through a magical winter kingdom and was happy to recount his experiences to the man he described as "an old tar," Captain Ackerman.

As the newspaperman approached the Kingsland Point Lighthouse,

Captain Ackerman spotted him from afar and waved him in. The keeper and his wife were glad to have some company because winter was the -2- slow season on the Hudson. Unlike today, the main channel was not kept open by icebreakers in those days. The river simpxy froze over and navigation came to an immediate halt. When that happened the lighthouse keeper did not have to concern himself with the sailing sloops and steamboats normally plying the waters off Kingsland Point. This does not mean that he could roll over and enjoy a long winter's nap, however. There were too many chores to do inside the lighthouse to permit anything of the sort. Fixing, scraping, painting, and polishing were the order of the day when the river was frozen over. Occasionally the monotony was broken by a walk to shore for mail and supplies or by a visit from mainlanders who just haorened to be strolling by the lighthouse.

More often than not, the visitors were announced by Captain Ackerman*s dog, a creature w'no doubled as family-pet and security

iruarrl. Less responsible duties were assigned to the four lighthouse cats. Although one of the Felines was known to go for an occasional swim in the Hudson in nice weather*, the dog was more adept at imitating human behavior. His bark was a kind of early warning system indicating trouble or the horizon. Despite the fact that the news and gossip

column of the ri'-xrvytown Argus observed on October 6, 1883, just five

days after the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was illuminated for the \ first time: "Captain Jacob Ackerman, the new lighthouse keeper, is on deck and ready for business. It will he a wide awake salt that catches him napping," the captain sometimes relied upon man's best friend to alert him to strange sounds.

Throughout the period from October 1, 1883 to October 1, 1904, , when Captain Ackerman was in charge of the lighthouse, there were few . -3- unusual occurrences but, on occasion, the wide awake captain had to spring into action to save lives. On June 17, 1892, for example, a fierce thunderstorm,accompanied by hail and what Captain Ackerman described as a tornado,hit Kingsland Point. All of this atmos­ pheric activity churned up the waters of the Hudson overturning a new launch from Nyack which sank near the lighthouse in ten feet of water. Five men on the ill-fated craft were pulled to safety by the keeper who ventured out in his own boat when he saw the launch going down. Less than a year later, on April 26, l893i Prank Weeks and three companions were lifting fish nets from beneath the surface of the river when their boat suddenly overturned. Hearing their anguished cries for help, Captain Ackerman responded immediately and saved all four men. !

Most days were not quite that exciting. Indeed, given the lighthouse keeper's heavy routine maintenance chores, seme of the other jobs Captain Ackerman held in the course of his long life were probably more interesting. A native of Orangetown in Rockland County* where he was born in 1826, the captain had worked as a young man on boats plying the Hudson. Later, he served as president of the Village

of North Tarrytown and keeper of the section of the Cretan Aqueduct which passes through Greenburgh and Mt, Pleasant, Eefore going to his final resting place, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, in 1915, the captain headed the feed and hay department of Gilbert T. Davies and Co. in Tarrytown.

Although all of the positions he held enabled nim to utilize his talents, the job of keeper of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was probably the most challenging despite the heavy chores and long periods of loneliness. The worst time of year was early winter when the river was neither frozen enough to permit walking to and from shore nor sufficiently open to allow the keeper to safely row to Kingsland Point. These were the conditions on December 25, 1898, which not only happened to be Christmas day but also the Ackermans' fiftieth wedding anniversary. Friends and relatives invited to the lighthouse for an evening celebration could not get there because of dangerous ice floes in the river so the happy couple spent a quiet anniversary alone.

Jacob Ackerman knew there would be times like this when he accepted the position at Kingsland Point. The lot'of a keeper is loneliness. This undoubtedly explains Ackerman's habit of under­ lining in red notations in his log concerning visitors. Keepers of other lighthouses similarly cherished their infrequent guests although they may not have taken the time to note the big event in their logs. If the visitors arrived at the lighthouse following a rescue at sea,they were as glad to be there as the.keeper was to have them. Even when nothing untoward occurred during a voyage, seafarers were reassurred by the presence of lighthouses.

In the long history of aids to navigation stretching back to '

ancient times when bonfires were lit on hilltops to guide fishermen ; home, a light on-shore has always been a welcome sight. Some of the ancient peoples improved uDon the open fires by constructing slender towers atop which flames werekePt SoinS perpetually to help mariners avoid treacherous spots. The Phoenecians built such structure's -5- as did the Greeks and Romans. The most famous of the ancient

lighthouses, however, was the one erected around 230 3.C. on the

island of Pharos to mark the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria,

Egypt. More than four hundred feet high, this white limestone and

marble lighthouse topped by a statue of Poseidon, god of the sea,

was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The

word Pharos became a synonym for lighthouse and to this day the

science of navigational aids is called pharology.

Another celebrated lighthouse was the one constructed in the late

eighteenth century at Eddystone Reef, fourteen miles off Plymouth,

England in the Channel. Several earlier attempts had been made to

mark the treacherous lowlying ledge surrounded by huge rocks, many

of which were covered at high tide. A fierce storm swept away

one lighthouse while fire destroyed another, when John Smeaton,

a professional engineer, decided to try his hand at constructing

a new Eddystone lighthouse in 1756, he chose granite as his building

material rather than wood. Huge granite blocks were cut to fit

together perfectly thereby avoiding the use of mortar. Unlike

its predecessors, the new lighthouse was able to withstand high

winds.

In time Smeaton's work at Eddystone was imitated on this side

of the Atlantic Ocean. Although America's first lighthouse,

constructed at Boston in 1716, antedated John Smeaton's tower at

Eddystone, the second Minot's tower, twenty miles southeast of

Boston and completed in i860 to replace an ill-fated octagonal • -6- platform and tower, was made of granite blocks and is still functioning as an aid to navigation. The Kingsland Point Lighthouse erected two decades later at a cost of $20,795.77 did not have to withstand the pounding of the Atlantic to which Hinot's Ledge has been subjected. Nevertheless, the structure was designed to survive extremely high tides and ice. From the bottom up it was built to last.

Since a foundation of gravel was discovered below the water a quarter mile off Kingsland Point, a mass of concrete confined by an iron cylinder was placed on the bottom of the river. Above the surface rose a five story tower of flanged five-eighths inch iron plates bolted together. The structure still displays the name G.W.

& F. Smith Iron Co., Boston, Massachusetts over the door. Flanged cast iron plates were also used for the floors of:the lighthouse.

According to a front page article in the Scientific American on

January 5, 188^ the cast iron floors, over which wooden flooring was laid, were "supported at the center of the tower by an iron column extending through the four stories and to the floor of the cellar, and at the sides by the masonry lining." The same article

observed: Surrounding the lower story is a gallery whose roof is supported upon iron columns, resting upon the outer edge of the concrete foundation. The watch-room, constituting the fifth story of < the structure, is 10 feet 10 inches in diameter, 7 feet in height, and has vertical sides. Around this room is a balcony, having an external diameter of 23 feet, the projecting part being'supoorted by brackets....On. top of the watch-room is a fixed light of the fourth order, which can be seen for ten or twelve miles, the height above water being about 50 feet, A railed balcony surrounds the lantern. ' Within the watch-room is the clockwork, which during foggy weather strikes a bell, placed upon the large balcony,' once every two minutes. The: . weight of the clockwork descends through the center column of the tower. -7- The bell was made in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire navy yard and

was a periodic source of annoyance because of its tendency to

malfunction, when that happened, the keeper had to operate it by

hand until he could either fix it or import a. mechanic to do the

job.

Getting the bell to work properly was almost as difficult

as building the lighthouse in the first place. In 18^7 Congress

authorized the erection of a lighthouse at Tarrytown Point. Con­

struction should have begun in 184-8 but the project was held up

because pilots and captains of steamboats plying the Hudson contended

that Kingsland Point, North Tarrytown was a better location. Further

complicating the situation was the fact that the owner of a vineyard

at Kingsland Point refused to part with his property unless he

received a high price. More than thirty years later, a decision was

made to build the lighthouse in the river itself approximately one

quarter mile off Kingsland Point. The State of New York ceded the

underwater site to the federal government and the Light-House Board,

established in 1852 within the Treasury Department, took charge of

the project.

Aids to navigation had been a federal responsibility since

1789. .Initially Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's Secretary:

of the Treasury, personally supervised lighthouses. Keepers were

appointed directly by the president down through the administration

of Thomas Jefferson. As presidential responsibilities grew, the

task of supervising lighthouses was assumed by the Fifth Auditor of

the Treasury who took charge of the United States Lighthouse Service. Following an 1851 Congressional investigation of complaints about the inadequacies of aids to navigation, the Light-House Board, comprised primarily of military men, was established. Although keepers continued to be civilians, henceforth the military would be more involved with American lighthouses. Thus when the time finally came for the Kingsland Point Lighthouse to be built, General J.C.

Duane, engineer of the Third Lighthouse District, to which aids to navigation in the New York area were assigned, had overall respon­ sibility for the project.

During the period when the Light-House Board was functioning, aids to navigation underwent a marked improvement. Annual Light

Lists pinpointing the location and characteristics of all navigational aids in American waters were issued. Any alterations made in existing aids to navigation or the additi.on of new ones were publicized in

Notices to Mariners. When the Kingsland Point light was changed from its original fixed red to fixed white in 190^, after mariners prevailed upon the federal government to enhance the beacon's visibility, the new characteristic Of the lighthouse was published

in Notices to Mariners as was a later change to flashing red with

4-90 candlepower. .When it was altered from a wick-fed lamp to a. kerosene vapor lamp in 1929, the light was increased to 3»200 candlepower.

By this time all aids to navigation, including lighthouses, were supervised by the Bureau of Lighthouses created in 1910 to

replace the Light-House Board. The latter had been transferred

in 1903 from the Treasury to the Commerce Department and its • -9- successor, headed by one man instead of nine as the old Light- House Board had been, was also unler the Department of Commerce. '\side from the administrative efficiency of concentrating decision­ making power in one person rather than a team, the Bureau of Light­ houses differed from the Light-House Board in that it was dominated by civilians and very responsive to the needs of civilian keepers. An employee pension system was established in 1918 and although neither salaries nor retirement benefits were overly generous, the creation of a pension system was an important step. The first keeper of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, whose compensation listed in the Record of Light Keeper's Salaries in the National Archives, remained at ^5^0 per year from the time he was appointed in 1883 until his retirement in 190^, nis sod out on the pension plan as did ':i3 successor, Jules . Grogior, who was in charge of" the Kingsland Point U»ht from October 1, 190^ '-'nUl April 30, 1907. Subsequent keepers were covered, however, ;\fher 40 years," 10 months and 16 days of service, Laureat Lee I?: re, who served at Kingsland Point from 19^3 until 195^ and at other stations before and after his

assignment on the Hudson, was entitled to a pension of 4l±,*+21.96 oer year. When Leclerc accepted the position at North Tarrytown, \ though a civilian,he reported, to the Coast Guard because under the terms of the Presidential Reorganization Act of 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service was abolished for economy reasons and the lighthouses and their personnel, who were given the choice of remaining civilians or joining the military, were placed under the direction of the ''oast Guard. -10-

Although all of the administrative changes affecting lighthouses and their personnel might appear to be a bureaucratic nightmare, in reality, they affected keepers far less than the daily problems encountered in attempting, sometimes against great odds, to keep their equipment functioning. Letters relating to the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse in the National Archives reveal that fundamental mechanical and maintenance issues were of greater significance than administrative changes occurring in Washington. Among the letters to the Inspector of the Third Coast Guard District, for example, is one dated October 2, 1885 containing an authorization to furnish four tons of coal a year to the Tarrytown Light Station.

In the official correspondence preserved at the National Archives and in the log books of the keepers, stored at the Washington

Federal Records Center in Suitland, Maryland, what Westchesterites refer to as the Kingsland Point Lighthouse is known as the Tarrytown

Light Station.

Nomenclature notwithstanding, keeping a lighthouse in good condition was not an easy job. A collection of letters to the engineer of. the Third Lighthouse District found in the National

Archives indicates that even in the early days of the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse, repairs and improvements were required. Ln 1896 • riprap or broken stones had to be placed around the foundation of the lighthouse. A letter of June 25, I896 authorized the Hartford,

Connecticut firm of Messrs. E. And E.S, Belden to supply approximately :

200 tons of riprap at a cost of ;|1.23 a ton for an estimated total cost of ^2^6, The Annual Reports of the Light-House Board, also available at the National Archives, reveal a similar concern with -11-. basics. The I898 report, for example, which described the lighthouse as "in good order", stated that repairs made at Kingsland^Point

included a new smoke jack and smokepipe. In 1900 the report noted

that the light station had been provided with.rope, halyards, and

fuel.

Scattered throughout the logs of the keepers of the Kingsland

Point Lighthouse are similar references to equipment and supplies.

Although most entries were brief, scarcely anything that happened at

or near the light station was omitted. When the government decided

that keepers should wear uniforms, Captain Jacob Ackerman noted in

his log on June 1-6, 1884 that the official attire had been delivered

and that it was "a present". The uniform was a custom made outfit

consisting of a double-breasted coat with five big buttons on each

side, two outside pockets and two inside pockets,.a single-breasted

vest with three pockets and five tiny buttons, trousers, a cap with

a visor and adjustable chin strap, and: a badge. The material used

for the uniform was indigo-blue wool. In addition to this outfit,

employees received a brown working .suit which was worn for outdoor

jobs. Indoors, when cleaning, keepers donned regulation aprons.

The monetary value of each article of clothing supplied by the

Light-House Board was calculated and this amount, was deducted from^

the salary of any man who resigned less, than a year after receiving

the uniform. Replacement uniforms had to be paid for by the keepers

and after 1884 new appointees had to buy their own uniforms.

Ackerman's successors seemed less concerned with how they looked

than with the condition of the lighthouse. To be sure, the first -12- keeper was also very interested in the station's appearance and performance. Log entries noting official inspections were underlined

in red. During Captain Ackerman's tenure, good and excellent ratings

were received. This was generally the case with his successors

although the station was rated only fair in August 1917. Gus

Kahlberg, who served as keeper from Hay 1, 1907 until June 30,1930,

longer than anyone else, was in charge at the time and he quickly

went to work painting and making repairs to get the station into

tip-top'condition. That things were less than perfect during Kahlberg's

first years at Kingsland Point is not surprising because his logs

indicate that there were all sorts of problems. In the fall of 1912

the light's revolving apparatus, malfunctioned. The following year,

Kahlberg's.boat was: washed away by heavy waves during a winter storm.

In January. 1915 an iron ladder outside the foundation of the lighthouse

was bent and broken by the ice.

The period from December through mid-Warch was usually very

difficult. Although the big passenger steamboats plying the Hudson

suspended operations, the keeper was compelled to stay at nis post.

Indeed the position of the Light-House Board was that it was "the

duty of every light-keeper to stand by his light as long as the

light-house stands, and that for him to desert it when in danger

is as cowardly as for a soldier to leave his guns on the advance

of an enemy." The keeper's first duty was to the dight even if

it meant that his reports were submitted a little late. During

the winter of 1913-1^ Gus Kahlberg remained firmly planted at the

station tending the light and bell while mother nacure refused'to 7 -13-

assist him in getting his reports off to headquarters. As frequently

happened, the river was not sufficiently frozen to permit safe

walking. Yet, the ice floes^ were so treacherous that the keeper

could not row to shore to get to the post office.

Even in spring the Westchester weather could be uncooperative.

In April 1914 Mrs. Kahlberg was ill enough to require a doctor but

it was too windy for her husband to row ashore and safely transport

the family physician to the lighthouse. Mrs. Kahlberg seems to

have had her trials and tribulations at Kingsland Point. On an

early September day in 1915 she almost drowned when the keeper's

boat in which she was riding was hit by a motorboat. Fortunately,

her husband was skilled in rescue efforts because from time to

time he had some practice. In the late summer of 1922, for example,

Kahlberg plucked a man and woman from the river when their canoe

was swamped in a storm.

Like the keepers who preceded and followed him, however, Gus

Kahlberg could not be a hero every day. The nature of the job was

not so much to rescue people who slipped beneath the waters of the

Hudson as it was to keep the light functioning in order to assist

mariners to stay out of harm's way. This meant spending hours each

week polishing the Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier, Eenard &

Turenne in Paris, France. Invented in 1822 by French physicist

August Fresnel, this illuminating device was considered superior

to the Argand type used in American lighthouses until the mid-

nineteenth century. -14- Th e- Argand lamp, in which oil was burned from a circular hollow wick in a glass chimney, with a current of air rising up through the middle of the wick, was satisfactory but still better was Fresnel's system. He employed the refractive properties of glass to produce light beams. Designing an annular lens panel with a central bull's-eye lens surrounded by concentric prismatic rings,Fresnel had each succeeding ring ground to tne profile of the outer part of a lens having the same diameter and aperture as the ring and the same focal length as the central lens, A concentric beam of light was projected when an illuminant was placed at the common focus of the lens panel.

The twelve bull's eye Fresnel lens at Kingsland Point was illuminated one half hour before sunset each evening. A hand pump operated by the keeper provided air pressure which fed the kerosene,- the fuel the light burned. The keeper also had to wind the clockwork which controlled the light's flashing mechanism, a cylindrical screen floating upon a bath of mercury. Once a year the 35, pounds of mercury had to be drained, cleaned and replaced. A more frequent job was winding the clockwork which controlled the 1,000 pound fog bell. Since the bell required cranking every four hours, the! keeper could not catch eight hours of uninterrupted sleep on a foggy night. Even in clear weather, he was unable to stay in bed.. A half hour after sunrise he had to extinguish the light and, except on cloudy days,cover the lens and draw the curtains around it to' prevent a fire which could be started by the sun's rays striking the light's prisms. V^Aside from the constant care of the light, the keeper cusied himself with all sorts of chores. He polished brass, washed windows -15- . • and floors, and painted the interior and exterior of the lighthouse as often as needed. The exterior was white except for the black lantern turret, 56 feet above low tide, and the red pier. Interior whitewashing was often done in winter when ice prevented the keeper from performing outdoor tasks but exterior painting was customarily done in spring, sometimes under adverse conditions. Gus Kahlberg reported in 1927 that he painted the tower despite a raw wind. Though unpleasant, this task seems to have bothered him less than trying to repair the fog bell. Since this important aid to navigation was frequently out of order and required hand operation, a machinist was finally summoned to repair it. Consistent with government regulations, Kahlberg stood at the machinist's side and assisted him. Since the job took several days, Kahlberg most likely played host to the visiting repairman. The government required lighthouse keepers to. furnish lodging and food to workmen but they were compensated for dispensing hospitality. Small though it is, the Kingsland Foint Lighthouse had three bedrooms, the largest of which was 16 feet in diameter. The third bedroom, only 13 feet across,was divided into two sections, one devoted to general main­ tenance and the other specifically for cleaning the equipment. Guests presumably slept in the second bedroom which-was 15 feet . in diameter.

Some visitors, however, preferred to sleep under the stars. Included in this.category was a carrier pigeon who arrived at the station in November 1929 and stayed for a few days. It was so; soon after the stock market crash that the winged visitor could -16- have been seeking a secure new home in which to weather the storm of the Great Depression. A lighthouse was actually a good place to be during those dreadful years. In contrast with the magnificent estates lining the east shore of the Hudson, a lighthouse was a humble abode but the keeper and his family at least had a roof over their heads. Although not totally unaffected by the adversity they witnessed ashore, the residents of a lighthouse went about their business as usual during the 1930's. In addition to performing routine duties, the. keeper continued to rescue people just as he had been doing all along. Admittedly, not all of the efforts were as successful as Gus Kahlberg's quick action in October 1927 when he spotted a fire on the tug Virginia rrince and warned the crew enabling them to put it'out in. the nick of time.

Sometimes events were beyond the control of the keeper. In June 1928 a young man working on a dredge drowned. Kahlberg dragged for the body and recovered it. There was another occasion in May 1932 when keeper John A. Tatay, who served at Kingsland Point from July 1, 1930 until March 27, 1935, through no fault of his own, could not help. Tatay spotted a motorboat in flames about

three miles south southwest of the station. He immediately jumped \ into his boat and rowed out but the craft sank before he arrived. The story, nevertheless, had a happy ending because a passing cruiser picked up the two men from the'burning boat.

At times the well-meaning keeper was able to lend a helping hand.

When fire broke out on a motorboat being refueled near the station in -17-

July 1932, Tatay reached for a fire extinguisher and saved the day.

In August 1934 he rescued four young men whose canoe was swamped.

Two years earlier on November 9, 1932 when the lighthouse was buffeted by strong northeast winds, a 16 foot powerboat became disabled near

Kingsland Point. Tatay towed the vessel tothe station and helped

the two occupants make repairs. Before long they were on their way. A month later, the tug H. D. Mould lost a propeller between the lighthouse and the east shore of the Hudson. Although the

incident occurred at 2 A.M., keeper Tatay rowed the captain of the tug ashore where he telephoned for help. The Kingsland Point

Lighthouse did not have a telephone until 1952 but it did not seem

to matter to> Tatay because there were certain fringe benefits

whose value far outweighed the lack of modern conveniences. Tatay's

log entry for July 15, 1934 mentioned one of those priceless extras,

a "beautiful complete double rainbow at sunset." At the end of

August 1932 the keeper had an unobstructed view of an almost total

eclipse of the sun. Earlier that month he had witnessed the Goodyear

blimp Resolute passing .the light station. In 1937, on the day of

its fatal crash at Lakehurst, New Jersey, the massive German

dirigible Hindenburg went right over the Kingsland POint Lighthouse.

The keeper at the time was A, Min-zer,. who was in" charge from ;

March 28, 1935 until December 31, 1939. The logs of both Minzer

and Tatay reveal not only unusual occurrences like the sighting

of blimps, the extremely low tide of February 20, 1932, and the

temporary grounding of the Nyack-Tarrytown ferry and the excursion

boat City of Keansburg but day to day activities at the station. -18-

Tatay,.in particular, seemed obsessed with these tasks. His log

entries looked like a to-do list with such notations as "repairing

kitchen pump and pipes" and "washing windows; scraping and painting bell deck." '//hen Tatay needed assistance with the chores, he

summoned his father from Bridgeport, Connecticut. J. A. Tatay, Sr.,

whose frequent presence during the warm weather was recorded in

the log, does not appear to have gone to North Tarrytown for a

summer vacation. Instead, as the keeper noted in his log entry

of June 22, 1932, his father was "helping me with station wor'K."

'When the younger Tatay underwent surgery at the Marine Hospital

on Staten Island, his father stepped in as substitute keeper. John

Tatay appears to have had more health problems than the other men

who were in charge of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, A dislocated

shoulder sent him hurrying to the Marine Hospital in May 1933.

Two years earlier he crushed several fingers and promptly paid a

visit to Dr. C. C. Sweet of Ossining. Less than a weeK later he

was back at work repairing things at the station. On rare occasions,

other than the periods when his father • visited, Tatay had the

pleasure of watching other people work. One such time was

November 1933 when he observed the construction of a breakwater:

at the station. In February 193^ Tatay saw photographers from the:

New York American, the Daily News, and the Mirror hard at work

capturing the frozen Hudson on film during one of the coldest

winters in the northeast. 1 -19-

Unlike Tatay, who appears to have taken genuine delight in any event which broke the monotony of life at the station, including

Mother's Day, Flag Day, and Labor Day, all of which he noted in his log, his successor, A. Minzer, rarely • got excited. Even the hurricane of 1938, notorious for the destruction it caused in

this part of the country, was passed off as a "bad...gale." Minzer's

log, with its frequent brief entries about such station chores as "washing and varnishing the floors" and "chipping the railings",

is not in the least bit chatty. It contains the required descriptions

of the weather and tasks performed but little else. Perhaps

Minzer was simply too busy raising a family at the station to devote

much time to writing. His son, nicknamed "Lighthouse Larry1-1 by his

high school classmates, had to be rowed ashore each morning. Grocery

shopoing and mail deposits and pickups also necessitated rowing

to Kingsland Point. These tasks required time as did the regular

routine of keeping the lighthouse in tip-top condition. Perhaps

ohis explains Minzer's tendency to write very brief entries in

his log.

After-January 1, 1940 Minzer did not have to concern himself

with recording daily activities at the,lighthouse because on that

date U.S. Navy personnel were assigned to the station. Three x\iavy •

men served at the lighthouse in quick succession. The first was

William 0. Sinibger who remained at Kingsland Point until May 30,

1941. He was succeeded by Thomas F. Walker who was replaced by >

Harold Fischer on October 14, 1942. Fischer served until June 23,1943. -20-

Despite the fact that World War II was raging, all three Wavy men were confronted with nothing more challenging than an occasional rescue, usually in summer when increased recreational boating necessitated such efforts. Sinibger saved four people adrift in a small outboard, six others in a stranded motorboat and a man whose boat was in danger of sinking. In between he laid linoleum on the kitchen floor, went to White Plains for his driver's test, played host to former keeper John Tatay who dropped in one July day in 1940 and entertained his visiting mother-in-law when she arrived at the station with several people in tow in August 19^0.

Keeper Walker's tour of duty at Kingsland roint was not much more exciting. He painted the cellar stairs and the kitcnen, using cream color for the; walls. Sometimes he had guests. In February 1942 several people walked over the frozen Hudson:to visit the lighthouse. George Hendra arrived in style, however, driving his

Austin car out to the station. Years earlier in 1912, motoring on the icy river was quite a sport. That year a touring car was driven from Tarrytown to Newburgh and back. By the 19^0' s this fad was obsolete although the winter of 1947-43 was so cold that the New York Journal-American sent a helicopter to photograph the frozen Hudson. Keeper Laureat Leclerc, a civilian who served ; at the Kingsland Point Lighthouse from June 24, 1943 until August 1,

1954, stood on the station,with his wife beside him,looking up at the helicopter as earlier keepers had gazed at dirigibles. -21-

Of French Canadian ancestry, Leclerc was born in New Hampshire in 1900. At the age of 12 he was sent by his parents to help out an uncle who was a lighthouse keeper on the St. Lawrence

River. Despite the laborious work and the hardships.resulting from the .burning of the keeper's dwelling, young Leclerc developed a lifelong love for his uncle's occupation. Thus, following a stint on an icebreaker in the St. Lawrence during World war I, he joined the United States Lighthouse Service and was assigned to various stations in Long Island Sound, including Great Captain's

Island., not far from the shoreline of Westchester County. He also served in lower New York Bay before going to North Tarrytown.

During Leclerc's tenure, the Kingsland Point light station entered the twentieth century. Electricity was added. Not only was the light electrified but an electric striker for the massive bell was installed. Other additions included an electric refrigerator and washing machine for Mrs. Leclerc, who had two

sons to look after and keep clean. The Leclercs' daughter .Xarie was married and living on dry land but the sons, Leuria and Andrew,

resided at the station. Getting the older boy to school was a

serious problem in winter. Cne year Leclerc packed Leuria off

to relatives in Canada so he could attend classes throughout

the winter without having to worry about ice floes in the Hudson.

River. Most of the time, though, Leclerc arranged to have the

children stay with family friends on shore if the weather prevented

their father from rowing to North Tarrytown to pick them up. If -22- the youngsters did not see the lighthouse flag flying, that was their sign to remain ashore.

Until 1952 when a telephone was installed, the station was cut off from the world in cold weather, Leclerc was thrilled with the new tie to civilization, or as he put it: "That sure was some convenience." In general, despite numerous friends on shore and the cooperation of the people at the Chevrolet plant, Leclerc's nearest neighbors-, the keeper found life at Kingsland Point arduous. Even the most routine tasks were not simple for lighthouse dwellers. 'When the river was frozen over, Leclerc had to trudge to the stores on foot and transport the family's food to the station in a coal bag slung over his houlder. in good weather, he went shopping almost every morning. His wife made an average of three trips to shore per week,:including one to church on Sunday, until her death in March 1947. Compounding the loss of Mrs. Leclerc was the tragic accident which claimed the life of seven year old Andrew Leclerc on October 18, 19<+7. While playing with a miniature sailboat, the boy reached out for the toy and fell into the Hudson. Before his father could rescue him, he drowned.

The irony of this incident was that keeper Leclerc saved ' several people during his eleven years at Kingsland Point. Despite heavy winds, he plucked two men from an overturned dinghy in September 1952 and received a commendation, from the Coast Guard for his efforts. Another glowing letter from the Commander of the -23- Third Coast Guard District followed in. 1953 for his successful attempt to save a fifteen year old boy who became exhausted while swimming across the Tappan Zee. Laureat Leclerc made these rescues although he himself was in a weakened condition following his tragic double loss several years before. By the early 1950's Leclerc was not altogether well. He became dizzy painting the-outside of the tower and found it increasingly difficult to fight the ice. Although he was granted permission to go ashore in icy weather, after setting the light to operate continuously, Leclerc requested a transfer to a shore station. When he was assigned to the Lynde Point Lighthouse in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Coast Guard personnel assumed respon­ sibility for Kingsland Point.

Of the three Coast Guardsmen assigned to the lighthouse until it was decommissioned, Edward Brown, who manned tne station from August 2, 1954 until June 2, 1955, served the shortest time. Richard Moreland, keeper until February 13-, 1958, had possibly the happies't experience at Kingsland Point. Born in Milan, Michigan, nineteen year old Moreland was practically a newlywed when he moved into the lighthouse with his wife Agnes, also nine­ teen and a native of County Sligo, Ireland. When Edward R.

Murrow interviewed the Morelands on his "Person to Person" television program on June 22, 1956, the couple had a ten month old daughter, Mary Lou, and Mrs. Moreland was expecting another child in August. From a technical standpoint, the show was one -24- of the most difficult broadcasts attempted up until that time.

A relay station had to be set up on a hill several miles from the lighthouse to beam the program to the Empire State Building.

A twenty member TV crew was dispatched to the station ten nours before air time to install lights, wires and cameras. The crew posed for a picture on the bell deck of the lighthouse snortly before the broadcast. Soon thereafter the television audience was treated to a delightful .show in which the nice, typical

American couple of the mid-1950's and their darling baby demonstrated what it was like to live in a round house with square furniture out in the river twenty-nine miles from the tip of Manhattan Island.

In reality, the Morelands did not mind it at :all. Dick thought it was a great way to save money. Avoiding costly recreation, both the keeper and his wife enjoyed watching television and reading. They also liked fishing for eels, perch, catfish, and bass. In warm weather Dick swam in the river but not until he had tied a rope around his waist" and fastened it to the station.

In this way, he was assured of assistance in the event he became tired fighting the swift current. On occasion the keeper was exhausted just doing his job. During a power failure he stood :

in the pouring rain for more than two hours striking the bell by hand. Mrs. Moreland knew how to start the bell1and turn on the light, just in case, but her most important job was looking after the family. Following the birth of a second daughter, Diane, -25- she had a lot to keep her busy in her curious round house.

Unlike other mothers, she could not take the children out for a walk in the baby carriage. Instead, in nice weather, she put the girls in a playpen on the pier but either she. or'her husband had to remain with them the entire time they were out there.

Such were the joys of raising a family in a lighthouse.

Although the Morelands left Kingsland Point in 1958, they undoubtedly cherished the memory of their years there. The last keeper of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, Fred C, Fleck, who served until the station closed in 1965, may have also enjoyed his years at North Tarrytown but to a degree, his tenure was clouded by the fact that the lighthouse, was going to be decommissioned. The installation of navigational lights en the

Tappan Zee Bridge, completed in 1955, rendered the lighthouse

obsolete. After the light was extinguished in 1964 , the Coast

Guard turned the lighthouse over to the General Services Admin­

istration for disposal.. In 1969 the Westchester County Board

of Supervisors voted to accept the light station from G.S.A.

Another gift to the County was a walkway along the rear of tne

General Motors-Chevrolet Division plant connecting Kingsland Point :

Park with the spot where the County installed a metal bridge leading

to the lighthouse. By the time the bridge was completed in

1Q75, the County had purchased, for the sum of #1, from the State

of New York the underwater land on which the lighthouse had been -26- built. The federal government had transferred the property back to the state in 1959. In 1974 the deed to the lighthouse was presented to County Executive Alfred Del Bello in formal ceremonies held at the old light station.

Those who witnessed the deed transfer realized that they were seeing history in the making for the light station was destined to become a museum illustrating not only the contrib­ utions of lighthouses to the safety of mariners but also the story of Hudson River navigation. Indeed, during the more than seventy years that it illuminated the Tappan Zee, the widest part of the Hudson, the Kingsland Point Lighthouse was part of the history of navigation on the river as were the eight other Hudson River lighthouses. Before any lighthouses were built alonp- the Hudson, however, inhabitants; of the valley ventured out onto the uncharted water, sometimes -with disastrous results. From the earliest period of European habitation of Manhattan Island and the shores lining the tidal portion of the river up to Albany, frightening stories were told about the often moody Hudson. <*uite aside from the disappointment Henry Hudson experienced upon realizing that the waterway was not the long sought .Northwest Passage, there were some hair-raising tales recounted about the river in the colonial period.

One concerned the so-called Flying Dutchman, Rambout Van Dam, who had such a merry old time at a party on a Saturday that he was -27- tardy rowing home to Spuyten Duyvil. Having broken the Sabbath by not leaving early enough to get in by midnight, he was condemned, according to a local Dutch legend, to an existence of perpetual rowing, for all eternity. It is said that in summer, at twilight, when the hills cast a purple shadow on the river, the sound of the Flying Dutchmen's oars churning the waters of the Hudson can still be heard. If.the keepers of the

Kingsland Point Lighthouse ever encountered this elusive figure from the distant past, they kept it to themselves just as tney omitted from their logs any mention of the Storm Ship, a myster­ ious colonial sailing vessel .the Dutch claimed they saw just before or after thunder showers.

One day in the seventeenth century this craft was spotted off the Battery at the tip of Manhattan Island. Delighted to see a European vessel, the settlers at New. Amsterdam hailed it and the fort proceeded to fire a salute. When the ship refused to stop, the fort's artillery was directed against the vessel for real but nothing could make it stop.

The mystery ship sailed up the Hudson niver and never returned. Yet every so often, according to an old Dutch tale, it emerges from storm clouds hovering over the river. Although the keepers of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse evidently never saw the ^torm Ship, it is interesting to speculate about whether the mysterious vessel was ever spotted by the Indians paddling along in their sturdy canoes or colonial ship owners like Frederick Philipse whose vessel:: * • . -28-

laden with grain, sailed from the wharf at Philipsburgh Manor

on the Pocantico River, just a short distance from the lighthouse.

As far as the history of Hudson River navigation is

concerned, none of the sailing vessels, real or otherwise, seen

on the waterway in the colonial period captured the imagination

the. way steamboats did. The first-steam craft to ply the waters

of the Hudson was Robert Fulton's Clermont. Its successful journey

in 1807 between New York and Albany inaugurated a new era in the

history of navigation. Although the New York State Legislature

granted the Fulton interests the exclusive right to operate steam­

boats in New York waters, the Supreme Court ruled against this

monopoly in the case of Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824. Thereafter

competition on the Hudson was fierce. Steamboat companies vied

with one another for passengers. Captains of rival vessels often

challenged each other to races, in order to prove the speed and

efficiency of their ships. Sometimes the consequences were

disastrous.

In July 1852, for example, after the. Henry Clay and the Armenia had raced from Albany to Kingston, where the latter vessel dropped out upon being rammed by the other contestant, the Henry Clay continued south but failed to release the excess steam built up during the race. Not long after passing Kingsland Point, the ship was' in flames. Some of the passengers jumped into the water and swam to safety two and a half miles s.outn of the Village of Yonkers where the burning vessel ran aground -29- but many of those aboard were women and children who did not dare brave the Hudson.

The loss of more than seventy people in the Henry Clay disaster led to the enactment of new steamboat safety legislation which gave passengers a sense of security exceeded perhaps only, by safety barges. These were luxuriously appointed vessels offering all the comforts of home. Lacking engines, they were towed by steamboats. Although the speed attained by these curious craft was less than that of a conventional steamboat, travelers felt considerably safer knowing that if an explosion occurred, only the steamboat and not the passenger barge would be affected. As steamboat safety improved, the towing arrangement became obsolete except for the transportation of cargo. With the opening of the. Erie Canal in 1825, the Hudson River became a major funnel for freight between the interior of the country and. the port of New York. Indeed, the increase in freight traffic together with the rise in passenger travel on the river necessitated improved aids to navigation. One of them was the Kingsland Point Lighthouse.

By the time the light station at North Tarrytown was established, some of the most important ships on the river were operated by the Hudson River Day Line. In 1856 the company was running the Armenia and Alida up and down the Hudson. Nine years later the Chauncey Vibbard was put into service. Its elegant ladies' cabin furnished in rosewood, with French lace curtains -30- . and stained glass skylight resembled an art gallery and its dining room was positively sumptuous. Although the Chauncey

Vibbard. along with such other boats as the Albany. the Peter

Stuyvesant, the Washington Irving, and the New York, was extremely popular, the most beloved of the Hudson River vessels was the Mary Powell. Built in i860 for Captain Absalom Anderson of Kingston, the boat was sold to Commodore Van Santvoord of the Hudson River Day Line nine years later. He retained owner­

ship of the vessel for only a few years but in 1902, his son-

in-law, Eben Erskine Olcott, president of the Hudson River Day

Line, purchased the aging but beautiful Mary Powell to prevent a competitor from acquiring her.

Like the other ships flying the Day Line flag, including the 379 foot long Hendrick Hudson commissioned in 1906, 'the Mary Powell participated in the gigantic Hudson-Fulton Celebration in 1909 marking the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the river and the centennial of steam navigation on the waterway. Less than a decade later the Day Line sold the Mary Powell for scrap. In 1923, five years after the Day Line disposed of the vessel which was regarded by many as the most famous steamboat in the United States, a reputation derived, at least in part, because of its long association with the river known as the American Rhine, the Mary Powell was broken up for scrap. Her admirers mourned her passing. Among them were the keepers of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, who each year were greeted by -31- the ship on her first voyage of the season. Although the

Circle Line, the successor to the Hudson River Day Line which folded in 1948, runs an excursion vessel up the Hudson during the summer months, things are not quite the same .as -they once were. To begin with, even if the boat blew its whistle as it

passed the Kingsland Point Lighthouse, there would be no uniformed keeper to return the greeting.

Ironically, the form of transportation manufactured a

stone's throw away from the lighthouse, the automobile,

rendered obsolete the old Day Line and the less celebrated

Hudson River Night Line, which was discontinued just before

World War II. Although the steamboats withstood the competition

of the railroad in the nineteenth century, the personal type of

transportation available a hundred years later led to the demise

of the grand river boats. In a way, the car was also respon­

sible for the phasing out of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse as

an aid to navigation because increased auto travel following

World War II. led to a massive highway building program in the

United States. One of the most important new roads was the

thruway running from New York City to Buffalo. To enable the

road to . cross the Hudson River, the Tappan Zee Bridge was

constructed and it was the' navigational lights on that span wnich

made the Kingsland Point Lighthouse unnecessary.

Looking at it from a more positive standpoint, however, -32- one may conclude that the bridge was a blessing in disguise because it enabled the County of Westchester to adopt the orphaned little lighthouse and bring it back to life again.

In its new role, the Kingsland Point light station seeks to

interpret the fascinating history which, for-so many years, it helped make. Unlike its old friend, the Mary Powell, the

lighthouse has.received an extended lease on life and its numerous admirers are confident that its second hundred years

will be as rewarding as the first. -33-

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE

The story of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse is based upon primary sources in the National Archives, Washington, D.O. of special interest are the site file for the lighthouse and correspondence relating to the early history of the station.

The log books of the lighthouse keepers are a fascinating and invaluable source of information about daily activities at Kingsland

Point. They are available at an annex to the National Archives, the Washington Federal Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. Abundant material on the history of aids to navigation and lighthouse administration can be found at the library of the Coast Guard

Academy in New London, Connecticut. Items specifically relating

to the Kingsland Point Lighthouse are available at the Historical

Society of the Tarrytowns. The following sources contain good

summaries of the light station's long history: Canning, Jeff and Buxton, /Jally. History cf the Tarrytowns. Harrison, N.Y.: Harbor Hill Books, 1975. Roe, Charles H. "The Tarrytown Lighthouse." The Westchester . Historian, XLIV (Fall 1968), 73-78.

The story of the Kingsland Point Lighthouse and other Hudson River light stations is recounted in: Glunt, Ruth P. Lighthouses and Legends of the Hudson. Monroe, N.Y.: Library Research Associates, 1975. Hudson River Valley Commission of :New York. The Hudson River Lighthouses. New York: Hudson River Valley Commission, 1967.