| What makes it historical? |
It was a 30-year process to get this lighthouse built, because the owner of the land here at Kingsland Point didn’t want a lighthouse driving down his property value! By 1881, though, the government worked up the $21,000 they needed to build a caisson-style, spark plug lighthouse off shore to keep steamboats on the Hudson from running aground on the shoals nearby!
The first lighting ceremony took place on October 1, 1883, and the light shone forth from its fourth order Fresnel lens until 1965, when the Tappan Zee Bridge eclipsed its light powers! You may also find it interesting that this light used to be half a mile off shore, but a General Motors plant actually filled in the shoreline so that you can now hop out to the lighthouse on a short bridge! |
