Sandy Hook Light- Gateway National Recreation Area New Jersey

Date of visit:  September 3, 2013.

                      Sandy Hook Light

(2004)
Location	Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°27′42″N 74°00′07″W / 40.46167°N 74.00194°W / 40.46167; -74.00194Coordinates: 40°27′42″N 74°00′07″W / 40.46167°N 74.00194°W / 40.46167; -74.00194
Year first constructed	1764
Year first lit	1764
Automated	1965
Deactivated	N/A
Foundation	Stone
Construction	Rubble
Tower shape	Octagonal
Height	103 feet (31 m)
Original lens	3rd order Fresnel lens
Range	19 nautical miles (35 km; 22 mi)
Characteristic	Fixed white lighted throughout 24 hours
Sandy Hook Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Architect	Unknown
Architectural style	No Style Listed
Governing body	U.S. Coast Guard
NRHP Reference #	66000468[1]
NJRHP #	2029[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	January 29, 1964[3]
Designated NJRHP	May 27, 1971

The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles (2.4 km) inland from the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States.^[4] It was designed and built in 1764 by Isaac Conro. At that time, it stood only 500 feet (150 m) from the tip of Sandy Hook; however, today, due to growth caused by littoral drift, it is almost one and a half miles (2.4 km) inland from the tip.

History

The light was built to aid mariners entering the southern end of the New York Harbor. It was originally called New York Lighthouse because it was funded through a New York Assembly lottery and a tax on all ships entering the Port of New York. The lighthouse has endured an attempt to destroy it as an aid to British navigation by Benjamin Tupper,^[5] and a subsequent occupancy of British soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
Almost two years after the State of New York ratified the U.S. Constitution, the lighthouse was transferred to federal authority. George Washington wrote to the Senate on April 5, 1790, "I have directed my private secretary to lay before you copies of three acts of the legislature of New York ... An act for vesting in the United States of America the light-house and the lands thereunto belonging at Sandy Hook".^[6]
In 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 25 cent stamp featuring the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.^[7]

Today

Sandy Hook Lighthouse, which was restored in spring 2000, is part of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service. Seven days a week, National Park Service Park Rangers offer free tours every half hour from 1:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.