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Navesink Highlands Light Station (Twin Lights) (Highlands, New Jersey)
Looking like a fortress on
the high hills of the Highlands, New Jersey, just south of the Sandy Hook
lighthouse, the Navesink Twin Lighthouses were built to guide ships into the New
York Harbor. The first twin towers were
built in 1828. They were a matched
pair of stone towers. Being on such
a high hill, the lens focal point was 240 feet above sea level. The north tower
had a fixed white light and the south tower had a rotating white light. The Navesink Station
became the first lighthouse in the nation to receive a Fresnel lens. In 1838
both a first-order and second-order lens was purchased in France and shipped to
America. The lenses were installed
in the twin towers and became operational in 1841. The huge first-order lens was installed in the south tower
and the second-order lens was installed in the north tower. The structure eventually
fell into disrepair and a new structure was built and completed in 1862 for
$74,000. This is the structure that exists today. The south tower is a 73-foot high square shaped tower.
The north tower is an octagonal shape that is 73 feet tall. The Fresnel
lenses of the old towers were transferred to the new towers. Both lights shown
brightly until 1898 when the government determined that two lights were no
longer needed at the station and so the north light was taken out of service.
The new Navesink light station was the pride of the government and became the first in many ways. Besides the first lighthouse equipped with a Fresnel lens, the Navesink lightstation was the first American lighthouse to burn kerosene instead of whale oil (1883), and the Navesink south light was the first primary seacoast light to be electrified by an electric arc lamp (1898). (Sandy Hook harbor light was electrified with an incandescent electric light in 1889). Navesink was also the first station to transmit wireless telegraph signals when Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated the first practical wireless telegraph by transmitting the results of the 1899 Americas Cup Races taking place off of Sandy Hook.
When electrified in 1898, one of the largest lighthouses lens ever constructed was installed in the south tower and the Navesink light station became the most powerful lighthouse in the nation and remained so for many years. The lens was a bi-valve Fresnel lens and was 9 1/2 feet in diameter. An inscription at the base of the lens read “This apparatus, the greatest ever made according to the new principle of lighting lights, has been drawn and executed with agreement of the French Lighthouse Board …Paris 1893”. The new electric arc lamp installed in 1898 produced 60,000,000 candle power of light output that could be seen for 22 miles out to sea. The electric arc lamp was later replaced with an incandescent kerosene vapor lamp in 1917 and then with an incandescent electric lamp cluster in 1924. The light was automated in 1942 but then was deactivated in 1952. The bi-valve Fresnel lens was removed from the south tower and is currently on display at the light station.
In 1954 the lighthouse was
turned over to the Borough of the Highlands by the USCG. In 1960 it became a New
Jersey historic site administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection. It is currently operated as a state park and a museum.
The north tower today houses a sixth-order Fresnel lens that was
installed in 1962 and is operated as a private aid to navigation. Directions: Take exit 117 off the Garden State Parkway and follow signs to the Highlands. The road to the Light Station is on the right and should be marked.
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All pictures are the original work of Rick Totton and are protected under copyright laws. Do not reproduce any images from this website without permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2000 Rick Totton.
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