Horse Island Light

Horse Island Light

Location	Horse Island, Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, US
Coordinates	43°56′35″N 76°08′40″W
Tower
Constructed	1831
Construction	limestone (foundation), brick (tower)
Automated	1957
Height	21 m (69 ft)
Shape	square
Markings	white (tower), black (lantern)
Light
First lit	1870
Deactivated	1957
Lens	fifth order Fresnel lens
Active light
Constructed	1957
Construction	steel
Focal height	57 ft (17 m)
Range	5 mi (8.0 km)
Characteristic	Fl W 2.5s

Horse Island Light, also known as Sackets Harbor Light, is located on Horse Island in Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County in New York on Lake Ontario. In July 2017 the 24-acre island was acquired for preservation by the Civil War Trust, aided by a grant from the National Park Service. This was the first grant in the United States made for a War of 1812 site under the NPS battlefield grants program.^[1][2][3]

History

Horse Island Light is listed on the National Park Service's Maritime Heritage Program as a "Lighthouse to Visit" and as one of New York's Historic Light Stations.^[4]

A modern steel skeletal tower replaced the lighthouse as an Aid to Navigation in 1957,^[5] and the lighthouse and property were sold. It is now in private hands and not open to the public. The keepers quarters were built in 1870, and consisted of a 1+1⁄2 story Queen Anne/Italianate brick house. There was also a barn and oil house on the property.

During the War of 1812, the British used Horse Island as a staging area before the Battle of Sackett's Harbor. In July 2017, the 24-acre Horse Island, located near the village, was acquired for preservation by the Civil War Trust, aided by a grant from the National Park Service. It was the site of a War of 1812 engagement. This was the first time in the US that a grant from the American Battlefield Land Grant program has been used to preserve a War of 1812 site.^[2]

The lighthouse keeper at one time was Schuyler Shibley Simmons.^[6]

References

1. Daniel E. Dempster; Todd R. Berge (2002). Lighthouses of the Great Lakes. Voyageur Press. p. 146. ISBN 9781610604376.
2. "Campaign 1776 Announces First Battlefield Preservation Victories in New York State", Civil War Trust
3. ARLHS World List of Lights
4. National Park Service's Maritime Heritage Program's Inventory of NY Historic Light Stations
5. Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard.
6. [ancestry.com]

Further reading

• Oleszewski, Wes. Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
• Price, Scott T. "U. S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation: A Historical Bibliography". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
• Stewart, Alexander K. and Klepetko, Ross W. Battle of Sackett's Harbour (29MAY1813): a geological guide to the lake-shore processes and military tactics (NYS Geological Association, 2014)
• U.S. Coast Guard. Historically Famous Lighthouses (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1957).
• Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia. Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1-55046-399-3

External links

• Lighthouse Friends site
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: New York". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
• National Park Service Historic Lighthouses
• NPS Horse Island