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Home , Navesink Twin Lights

U.S. Department of the Interior Gateway National Recreation Area

Sandy Hook

The Lighthouse at Sandy Hook

Since the days of exploration and colonization, Sandy Hook and the nearby have been prominent landmarks for ships approaching Lower .

An Unmarked Harbor Englishman Thomas Pownall sailed into the To enter the harbor, sailing ships navigated a harbor in 1755 and noted that: "The first land narrow, curving channel around the tip of Sandy you discover in coming from the Sea is the high land Hook. Pownall's passage took place during of the Nave- sinks. ..under the Navesinks stretching good weather, but six years later a number of from their foot for about 4 miles to the right or shipwrecks occurred on the treacherous, unseen northward of this high land (is) a neck of low sandy sandbars and shoals surrounding Sandy Hook. hills covered with cedars & holly, ending in a low Severe financial losses from these shipwrecks sandy point... This was the first land of America made forty- three New York merchants petition that I saw.. .The Cedar point, ..was..called by the the Colonial Assembly of New York in 1761. Dutch Sandy Hoek. After having... come from the The merchants requested that a lighthouse be sea (and) within the Hook & under the pleasant feel erected on Sandy Hook to guide ships safely of still Water, the Eye is delighted with the view of a into the harbor. The New York Assembly most noble bay." supported this proposal and passed "An Act for raising a Sum not exceeding Three Thousand Pounds by way of Lottery for building a Light House" on Sandy Hook.

A Lighthouse is Built A committee of prominent New York citizens Base, 29 Feet; and at the Top of the Wall, 75 Feet. was authorized to establish the lottery and The Lanthorn (lantern house) is 7 Feet high; the purchase "a small quantity of land" at the tip of Circumference 33 feet. The whole Construction of Sandy Hook to build a lighthouse. Negotiations the Lanthorn is Iron; the Top covered with Copper. with Robert and Esek Hartshorne, the owners of There are 48 Oil Blazes. The Building from the Sandy Hook, resulted in the purchase , on May Surface is Nine Stories; the whole from Bottom to 16,1762, of four acres of "barren, sandy soil.. for top, 103 Feet". the moderate price of j$o pounds." To pay for the operation and maintenance of The June 18,1764 edition of the New York the new lighthouse, the Colony of New York Mercury Newspaper reported that: "On Monday authorized a tonnage tax of three pence per ton Evening last (June 11,1/64), the NEW- YORK on ships sailing into the harbor. This enabled LIGHT HOUSE erected at Sandy Hook was lighted the Port of New York to maintain the tower, pay for the first Time. The House is of an Octagonal a keeper's salary, and make a small profit from Figure, having eight equal Sides; the diameter at the any surplus tax money.

Surviving a Revolution Early in the American Revolution, the expected defending the lighthouse, and supported by a arrival of the British fleet made the lighthouse a British frigate in Sandy Hook Bay, Tupper called military target. A patriot raiding party removed 8 off the attack and withdrew his command. In copper lamps and 4 casks of whale oil from the response to the raid, the British high command lighthouse in March, 1776. In June, a daring took steps to protect this key navigational aid by attack to destroy the tower was attempted by sending loyalists to fortify the lighthouse and Lieutenant- Colonel Benjamin Tupper and his guard it from attack. Supported by the British soldiers. Tupper "ordered the artillery to play, Army and Navy, the loyalists kept the which continued an hour, but found the walls so "Lighthouse Fort" or "Refugees Tower" under firm I could make no Impression." In the face of British control for most of the revolution. stiff resistance from a British armed guard Fresnel Lens

More Navigational As commercial ship traffic in and out of the harbor replaced with new brownstone towers Aids increased tremendously after 1800, so did the need connected to a brownstone keepers dwelling. to better mark the sea approaches leading to the Today, the lights are preserved as Twin Lights Port of New York. To improve navigation, the State Historic Site, Highlands, NJ. newly created federal "Lighthouse Establishment" decided to take full advantage of the Navesink Originally, one keeper was responsible for the Highlands by building two identical octagonal Sandy Hook Lighthouse. In 1817, two additional stone towers there in 1827- 28. High above the sea, beacons were erected on Sandy Hook, and the these "twin" lights were visible before the Sandy keeper had to tend to three lights with a total of Hook Lighthouse, located at sea level. Two 32 lamps and reflectors. Finally, in 1857, three were built, so approaching ships assistants were assigned to work for the Sandy would not confuse them with the Sandy Hook Hook keeper. The historic image of the Lighthouse located over five miles to the north. American lighthouse keeper is of dedicated and The Navesink Twin Lights were further identified heroic individuals who maintained lights at by fixed (non- blinking) and rotating (blinking) lonely and isolated locations, all night long, white lights, while the was a through all kinds of weather, year after year. fixed white light. In 1861- 62, the twin lights were

Lighting Systems For many years, early American lighthouses making them the first American lighthouses to burned whale oil as an illuminant in metal lamps. use Fresnel lenses. Later, brighter burning lamps with mirror- like reflectors were used. In 1822, Augustin Fresnel of The Sandy Hook Lighthouse was refitted with France introduced a glass lens that revolution­ its present 3rd order Fresnel lens in 1857 when ized the lighting of Lighthouses. The Fresnel lens the iron lens house (lanthorn) was added to the resembled a giant, old- fashioned beehive, inside tower. In 1863, the Lighthouse Board reported of which was a single lamp. The lens' thick glass that the lighthouse tower was "thoroughly prisms bent the lamp's light to the center of the renovated." The work included the addition of lens, which greatly magnified the light into a a red brick interior lining to increase the powerful beam that could be seen for many miles thickness and add reinforcement to the original at night. Fresnel made his lenses in six different stone tower wall, and a new iron spiral staircase sizes, or "orders." The ist, 2nd, and 3rd order lenses to replace an older wooden one. In the late were usually installed in seacoast lighthouses to 1870's the Lighthouse Board introduced warn ships that they were approaching land. The kerosene as an illuminant. In the 1890's the 4th, 5th and 6th order lenses were used in harbor Board began experimenting with electricity, and sound light- houses. A Fresnel lens was and by the 1930's most of America's Lighthouses shipped to America in 1840, destined for the used this light source. In 1939, the U.S. Light­ Sandy Hook Lighthouse, but it was too large to fit house Service was abolished, and its duties were inside the lens house. It and a second lens were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard. The wide­ transferred over to the Navesink Twin Lights thus spread use of electricity eventually led to the automation of lighthouses and the elimination of lighthouse keepers.

A National Historic The lighthouse has witnessed many changes over On June 11,1964, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse Landmark the years, but the greatest change has been to the was declared a National Historic Landmark on Sandy Hook peninsula itself. In 1764, the the 200"1 anniversary of its first lighting. This lighthouse stood just 500 feet from the tip of faithful sentinel by the sea still continues its Sandy Hook. Ocean currents continued to move original function. The light is currently an sand up the coast, extending the tip further out automated, 3rd order Fresnel lens, fixed white into the harbor, so that by 1864, the lighthouse light, visible for nineteen miles on clear nights. stood about 4,000 feet from the tip. The The light is maintained by the United States lighthouse now stands about one and one half Coast Guard and is lit 24 hours a day. miles from the northern end of Sandy Hook.

For more information Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area, The Sandy Hook Lighthouse is open weekends, PO Box 530, Fort Hancock, NJ 07732 April to mid December. Tours are offered by the Lighthouse Society, who partner with Web address: www.nps.gov/gate the National Park Service in the interpretation of the Lighthouse. The Keepers' Quarters is now Text: Thomas J. Hoffman, Park Historian being rehabilitated by the Sandy Hook Foundation, the park's Friends group, and will become a museum of New Jersey Lighthouses.

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA Revised 2005