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 on June 11, 1764 by Isaac Conro. At that time, it stood only 500 feet (150 metres) 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. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, for its significance in commerce and transportation.[1]
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] The lighthouse is located on the grounds of Fort Hancock.
In 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 25 cent stamp featuring the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.[7]
^"Sandy Hook Light". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
