NAVESINK LIGHTHOUSE
Highlands, New Jersey
This was the last lighthouse I visited in New Jersey. I had just finished photographing Sandy Hook and when I got back to the south end of the peninsula, the exit ramp onto 36 West was backed up to the park boundary. Evidently you have to go over a bridge, a drawbridge, and it was up. I got tired of waiting so I went south only to find that I could not really turn around. Westbound 36 was backed up also. So I went inland, then north, and managed to follow my nose to 36 just west of the exit for the Navesink Lighthouse. I got there as the sun was starting to drop below the tree line around the grounds of the park, or Twin Lights Historic Site.
This place looks more like a fort than Fort Point does, sitting there under the Golden Gate Bridge on the opposite side of the continent. In fact it started out kinda that way. You see, this place sits up on a hillside, they of course, calling it a highlands so that the name of the town makes sense, and the early settlers used it as a warning station, with a beacon to be lit upon sighting of a hostile fleet, warning people landward rather than seaward. Not until 1756 is it documented that a lighthouse was erected at this location, though very little additional information was recorded. Finally in 1828 the twin towers at Navesink were established. Made of stone, they stood till 1862 when the existing towers were built and lit.
This is a very historic lighthouse, listed on both National and State Registers of Historic Places. In 1841, both towers had the nation's first Fresnel lenses installed, a 1st order in the south tower and a 2nd order in the north. When the existing towers were completed in 1862, both towers were furnished with 1st order lenses. Then, in 1883, the lightstation began using mineral oil to fuel the lamps, another first for a coastal light. And in 1898, the south tower, started shining from electricity, making it the first coastal lighthouse to do so. It also became the most powerful light at 25 million candlepower. Now as I recall, there is one other first for Navesink. Oh yes, some fellow named Marconi told the world about the America's Cup races off the coast there through the use of his wireless telegraph.
As the years progressed, the Navesink south tower was downgraded to about 5000 candlepower. It was automated in 1949, then decommissioned in 1952, making the station dark. But in 1962, the north tower was fitted with a 6th order lens and now shines nightly. The north tower also houses the museum and you can see a 1st order lens on display there. I was impressed with how well the grounds were maintained. Lots of people just sitting around looking out over the coast and up to New York. An excellent view.
Here's how I
saw it:
N1
N2
N3
N4
N5
N6
N7
N8
OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001