Since New York's Long Island is a long island, it has several lighthouses (one site said 25). Some, by virtue of location and visitation, are fairly famous; this one, partly because it can't be visited, does not appear to be one of better known.
This is the Eaton's Neck Lighthouse, and it can't be visited because it's an active Coast Guard base. So first I'll help point out where it is (across the Sound from Stamford, CT) and then move on to both basic stats and a little history.
The Lighthouse Directory provides the basic stats:
"1799 (John McComb). Active; focal plane 144 ft (44 m); continuous white light. 73 ft (22 m) octagonal fieldstone tower with lantern and gallery, attached to 1-story utility building. A 3rd order Fresnel lens (1856) is in use; it is the only active Fresnel lens on Long Island. Lighthouse painted white, lantern roof red. ... This is a treasure: one of only six 18th century lighthouses in the U.S."Lighthouse Friends provides the history:
"The keeper’s dwelling was demolished in 1969, and eleven Coast Guard housing units were added to the station. Eaton’s Neck Lighthouse was also scheduled for demolition, but local activists went to work and succeeded in having the tower placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The lighthouse continues to show a white light from its classic third-order Fresnel lens – the only Fresnel lens in active use at a Long Island lighthouse."
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