The 25th day of the fifth month of the year of the Camellia

SANDY HOOK LIGHTHOUSE

I took some time on my last trip to NH to visit some of the lighthouses in New Jersey that might have been repainted since I last visited them.  Sandy Hook is always a trip.  Almost in the dried mushroom sense of the word "Trip".  I guess the proximity to New York City lends a bit to the weirdness one can experience out there.  A nice experience, don't get me wrong but, if one looks hard enough and is open minded to what is going on, some strange, different, and interesting things can be found.  This time it was a hog nosed snake crossing the road.  It always weirds me out to find a snake at the beach.  At other times it has been the unexpected discovery the the local nude beach.  But this time I was on a tight schedule going from Navasink south to Cape May where I caught the Ferry to Lewes.  So I kept my clothes on while out there.  Probably a good thing that.

The oldest operating light tower in the United States, Sandy Hook Lighthouse has been in operation since 1764. The tower is 103 feet high with a diameter at the base of 29 feet and 15 feet at the top respectively. A third order Fresnel lens was installed in 1856 and is still in use today, flinging a white non-blinking light up to 19 miles at sea on a clear night.

British loyalists used this light as a base for raids on the countryside during the Revolutionary war. And in WW II, the light was turned off to protect New York Harbor. Located on National Park Service property it is within the confines of Fort Hancock at the north end of Sandy Hook.

The first lighthouse location in the country is of course Boston Harbor, but this light is the oldest existing tower at it's original location.  It is still amazing to me how these things were built.  The walls are thick, as much as eight feet in some cases, and were comprised either of brick or stone.  Just shaping the stone  would have been a huge chore.  In 1764, they just did not have the equipment we do today and all of it was hand labor.  Once the tower itself was built, the generally metal, circular,stairs had to be placed and the light room at the top, some 12 stories up, needed to be built.  Quite an engineering marvel.

I think that I finally got a definitive image of this lighthouse.  This photo pleases me and I did not have to go through to many contortions to get past telephone wires, cars, roads, and people to make the image.  The clouds were just right as was the lighting.  This one works and will be shown for the first time at the North Wildwood Maritime festival in July.  Dates and stuff for that show can be found on my website.

Wishing you all a good day.