Lighthouses of the world

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. Annapolis, Maryland! This is a truly unusual shaped lighthouse!

• Cana Island Lighthouse (Baileys Harbor): Features a 1869 tower and a unique haywagon ride over the causeway to the island.
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By far this is one of my favorite lighthouses that I have visited and climbed.

Little Sable Point Lighthouse, Michigan 

Forty Mile Point Light is a lighthouse in Presque Isle County near Hammond Bay on the western shore of Lake Huron in Rogers Township, Michigan USA.

Point Fermin, Ca

Point Cabrillo, Ca - James Hill

Lindesnes, Norway

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

An Unmarked Harbor

Englishman Thomas Pownall sailed into the harbor in 1755 and noted that: “The first land you discover in coming from the Sea is the high land of the Nave-sinks… under the Navesinks stretching from their foot for about 4 miles to the right and northward of this high land (is) a neck of low sandy hills covered with cedars and holly, ending in a low sandy point… This was the first land of America that I saw… The Cedar point… was… called by the Dutch Sandy Hook. After having… come from the sea (and) within the Hook & under the pleasant feel of still Water, the Eye is delighted with the view of a most noble bay.” To enter the harbor, sailing ships navigated a narrow, curving channel around the tip of Sandy Hook. Pownall’s passage took place during good weather, but six years later a number of shipwrecks occurred on the treacherous, unseen sandbars and shoals surrounding Sandy Hook. Severe financial losses from these shipwrecks made fort-three New York merchants petition the Colonial Assembly of New York in 1761. The merchants requested that a lighthouse be erected on Sandy Hook to guide ships safety into the harbor. The New York Assembly supported this proposal and passed “An Act for raising a Sum not exceed 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 was authorized to establish the lottery and purchase “a small quantity of land” at the tip of Sandy Hook to build a lighthouse. Negotiations with Robert and Esek Hartshorne, the owners of Sandy Hook, resulted in the purchase, on May 16, 1762, of four acres of “barren, sandy soil… for the moderate price of 750 pounds.” The June 18, 1764 edition of the New York Mercury reported that: “On Monday Evening last June 11, 1764), the NEW-YORK LIGHT HOUSE erected at Sandy Hook was lighted for the first Time. The House is of an Octagonal Figure, having eight equal Sides; the diameter at the Base, 29 Feet; and at the Top of the Wall, 15 Feet. The Lanthorn (lantern house) is 7 Feet high; the Circumference 33 feet. The whole Construction of the Lanthorn is Iron; the Top covered with Copper. There are 48 Oil Blazes. The Building from the Surface is Nine Stories; the whole from Bottom to top, 103 feet.” To pay for the operation and maintenance of the new lighthouse, the Colony of New York authorized a tonnage tax of three pence per ton on ships sailing into the harbor. This enabled the Port of New York to maintain the tower, pay a keeper’s salary, and make a small profit from any surplus tax money.

Surviving a Revolution

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