View source for Sandy Hook Light

{{Short description|Oldest lighthouse in the United States}}
{{for|the lighted vessel|Lightship Ambrose}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
__NOTOC__
{{Infobox lighthouse
| image_name = Sandy Hook Lighthouse October 2020 002.jpg
| image_width = 300px
| caption = Sandy Hook Lighthouse in 2020
| location = [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]], [[New Jersey]]
| coordinates = {{coord|40|27|42|N|74|00|07|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| mapframe = no
| yearbuilt = June 11, 1764
| automated = 1965
| foundation = Stone
| construction = [[Rubble]]
| shape = Octagonal
| height = {{convert|103|ft}}
| range = {{convert|19|nmi}}
| characteristic = Fixed white lighted throughout 24 hours
| module =
{{Infobox NRHP 
 | embed = yes
 | name = Sandy Hook Light
 | nrhp_type = nhl
 | architect =
 | architecture =
 | designated_nrhp_type = January 29, 1964<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=331&ResourceType=Building|title=Sandy Hook Light|accessdate=2008-06-27|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225013546/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=331&ResourceType=Building|archivedate=2009-02-25}}</ref>
 | added = October 15, 1966
 | locmapin = USA New Jersey Monmouth County#USA New Jersey#USA
 | refnum = 66000468<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a|refnum=66000468}}</ref>
 | designated_other1_name = New Jersey Register of Historic Places
 | designated_other1_abbr = NJRHP
 | designated_other1_link = New Jersey Register of Historic Places
 | designated_other1_date = May 27, 1971
 | designated_other1_number = 2029<ref name=NJRHP>{{cite web|title=New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Monmouth County |url=http://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/1identify/lists/monmouth.pdf |publisher=[[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]] - Historic Preservation Office |date=March 1, 2011 |accessdate=April 26, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202145100/http://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/1identify/lists/monmouth.pdf |archivedate=December 2, 2007 }}</ref>
 | designated_other1_num_position = bottom
 | designated_other1_color = #ffc94b
 }}
}}

The '''Sandy Hook Lighthouse''', located about one and a half statute miles (2.4&nbsp;km) inland from the tip of [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]], [[New Jersey]], is the oldest working [[lighthouse]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lighthousesusa.blogspot.com/2007/07/oldest-lighthouse-in-united-states.html|title=Oldest Lighthouse in the United States|date=July 12, 2007|access-date=October 18, 2011|archive-date=October 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013163715/http://lighthousesusa.blogspot.com/2007/07/oldest-lighthouse-in-united-states.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was designed and built on June 11, 1764 by [[Isaac Conro]]. At that time, it stood only {{convert|500|ft|m|abbr=off}} from the tip of Sandy Hook; however, today, due to growth caused by [[littoral drift]], it is almost {{convert|1+1/2|mi|km|spell=in}} 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.<ref name="nris"/>

==History==
The light was built to aid mariners entering the southern end of the [[Port of New York and New Jersey|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 and New Jersey|Port of New York]]. During the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], the lighthouse survived an attempt to destroy it as an aid to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] navigation by [[Benjamin Tupper]],<ref>[http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=378 Sandy Hook Lighthouse, New Jersey] at Lighthousefriends.com</ref> and subsequent occupation by British soldiers.

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".<ref>[[A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents]]. Bureau of National Literature, Inc. Vol.1, p.67</ref>  The lighthouse is located on the grounds of [[Fort Hancock (New Jersey)|Fort Hancock]].

In 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 25 cent stamp featuring the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stamp Series |publisher=United States Postal Service |url=http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |accessdate=Sep 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810160707/http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |archivedate=2013-08-10 }}</ref>

==Today==

Sandy Hook Lighthouse, which was restored in spring 2000, is part of the Sandy Hook Unit of [[Gateway National Recreation Area]] administered by the [[National Park Service]]. Tour times can be found at the park website. The view from the top includes the [[Atlantic Ocean]], [[Sandy Hook Bay]] and the New York City skyline. 
 
[[File:Sandy Hook Lighthouse in 2021.jpg|thumb|Sandy Hook Lighthouse in 2021|center]]

==In popular culture==
*On September 18, 2009 the Sandy Hook Light was filmed as a fictional backdrop for final episode of the longest running soap opera ''[[Guiding Light]]''.

==See also==
*[[List of National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey]]
*[[List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey]]
*[[Lightship Ambrose]]
*[[Geography of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary]]
*[[Raritan Bayshore]]

==Further reading==

* Zornow, William Frank (1954). "The Sandy Hook Lighthouse Incident of 1787". ''The Journal of Economic History''. '''14''' (3): 261–266.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{HABS |survey=NJ-326 |id=nj0630 |title=Sandy Hook Lighthouse, Fort Hancock, Fort Hancock, Monmouth County, NJ |photos=2 |color= |dwgs=6 |data=7 |cap= |supp= }}
*[http://www.americanbyways.com/index.php?catid=54 Sandy Hook Lighthouse at American Byways]
*[http://www.njlhs.org/njlight/sandy.html New Jersey Lighthouse Society Home Page: Sandy Hook Lighthouse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222225736/http://www.njlhs.org/njlight/sandy.html |date=2020-02-22 }}
*[http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=378 Sandy Hook Lighthouse] from Lighthousefriends.com

{{Middletown, New Jersey}}
{{Lighthouses of New Jersey|state=collapsed}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey}}
{{NRHP in Monmouth County, New Jersey}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Lighthouses completed in 1764]]
[[Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmark lighthouses]]
[[Category:Sandy Hook, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Gateway National Recreation Area]]
[[Category:Middletown Township, New Jersey]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Monmouth County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:1764 establishments in New Jersey]]
[[Category:New Jersey Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in New Jersey]]