New Dorp Light

New Dorp Lighthouse

New Dorp Lighthouse
Location	Staten Island / Lower New York Bay
Coordinates	40°34′51″N 74°7′12″W / 40.58083°N 74.12000°W / 40.58083; -74.12000Coordinates: 40°34′51″N 74°7′12″W / 40.58083°N 74.12000°W / 40.58083; -74.12000
Year first constructed	1856
Year first lit	1856
Deactivated	1964
Foundation	Brick
Construction	Wood
Tower shape	Square on center of dwelling
Markings / pattern	White
Height	80 feet (24 m)
Focal height	190 feet (58 m)
Original lens	Second Order Fresnel lens
ARLHS number	USA-537 [1]
USCG number
New Dorp Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Altamont Ave., Staten Island, New York, New York
Area	less than one acre
NRHP Reference #	73001260[2]
Added to NRHP	August 28, 1973

The New Dorp Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse located in the New Dorp section of Staten Island, New York. Funds for the lighthouse were approved by Congress August 31, 1852 and the structure was completed in 1856. The lighthouse, built to serve as a rear range light to mark Swash Channel (a shipping channel in Lower New York Bay), was built by Richard Carlow, who also built the similar Chapel Hill and Point Comfort Range Lights in New Jersey around the same time. Ships sailing through Swash Channel were instructed to bring the New Dorp range light “in one” and steer towards the lights until the Chapel Hill Light came into view, which would then mark the channel past West Bank.

The original beacon was a second-order range lens showing a fixed red light that shined 192 feet (59 m) above sea level. In 1891 the light was changed to fixed white. In 1907 the light source was changed from oil to incandescent oil vapor, which magnified the intensity of the light. In 1939 a sixth-order range lens was installed, showing a fixed white light. John B. Fountain was the first light keeper, who resided in the light keepers house upon which the lighthouse tower was built.

The New Dorp Lighthouse was decommissioned and boarded up in 1964. The lighthouse and land were neglected and vandalized for ten years until being sold at auction to a Staten Island resident named John Vokral for $32,000 in 1974. Vokral did extensive restoration work on the lighthouse, which now serves as a private residence.^[3][4]

New Dorp Light is on the National Register of Historic Places, with Reference #73001260 as New Dorp Light. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967. It is not open to the public.

References

External links

• Lighthouse Friends site
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: New York". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. 
• National Park Service Historic Lighthouses
• NPS New Dorp

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