Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Lighthouse of the Week, April 29 - May 5, 2018: Montauk Point Light, New York, USA


Every now and then, instead of featuring a single lighthouse (sometimes a pair) as the Lighthouse of the Week, I do a "special feature".   I did one of those last week, showing three lighthouses photographed at sunset.  Previously, I featured lighthouses decked out for Christmas.

In both of those special features, I included the extremely historic Montauk Point Lighthouse, located on the eastern end of Long Island.   But when I checked the blog, I discovered that I had never featured Montauk Point as the solo, individual LotW.

That changes now.

There is a LOT to write about on this one.  So I'm going to excerpt a lot from the esteemed and incredible Lighthouse Directory listing on Montauk Point Light.
"1797 (John McComb). Active; focal plane 168 ft (51 m); white flash every 5 s. 110 ft (33.5 m) octagonal sandstone tower with lantern and gallery; VRB-25 aerobeacon (2001). Tower painted white with a broad brown band, lantern black. Fog horn (2 s blast every 15 s). The keeper's house (1860) is used as a visitor center and museum; displays include the 3-1/2 order Fresnel lens used 1904-1987 ..."

"The light station is endangered by beach erosion, previously held at bay by a 400 ft (120 m) stone revetment built in 1992. In 2006, the Army Corps of Engineers received $12 million in funding to build a much longer and stronger barrier. These plans had to be redone after Hurricane Sandy (2012) and the project was still pending in 2016. In March 2012 the light station was designated a National Historic Landmark."

That should be enough. It's been there a long time, credit to its ability to survive some pretty nasty weather off the Atlantic. And it still stays so photogenic, too.








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