Stonington Harbor Lighthouse | |
Location | Stonington Connecticut United States |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°19′42.6″N71°54′20″W / 41.328500°N 71.90556°W |
Year first constructed | 1823 (first) |
Year first lit | 1840 (current) |
Deactivated | 1889 |
Construction | granite tower |
Tower shape | octagonal pris tower with balcony and lantern attached to the front keeper's house |
Tower height | 35 feet (11 m) |
Focal height | 62 feet (19 m) |
Original lens | 6th order Fresnel lens (1856) |
Current lens | none |
Range | 15 miles (24 km) |
Characteristic | F G 5s. |
ARLHS number | USA-813 |
USCG number | 1-25195 |
Managing agent | Stonington Historical Society (Old Lighthouse Museum) [1] [2] |
Heritage | place listed on the National Register of Historic Places |
Stonington Harbor Lighthouse | |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | 1840 |
Built by | John Bishop |
Architectural style | Lighthouse |
NRHP reference # | 76002000 [3] |
Added to NRHP | January 1, 1976 |
The Stonington Harbor Light is a historic lighthouse built in 1840 and located on the east side of Stonington Harbor in the Borough of Stonington, Connecticut. It is a well-preserved example of a mid-19th century stone lighthouse. The light was taken out of service in 1889 and now serves as a local history museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. [3]
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Stonington is a borough and the town center of Stonington, Connecticut, referred to by locals as "The Borough". The population was 929 at the 2010 United States Census.
Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the United States. As of the 2010 Census, it has the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index (0.962), and median household income in the United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its most populous city is Bridgeport. It is part of New England, although portions of it are often grouped with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-state area. The state is named for the Connecticut River which approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for "long tidal river".
The Stonington Harbor Light is located at the southern end of Stonington Point, marking the eastern side of Stonington Harbor. The light station consists of the tower and keeper's house; both are built out of large granite blocks, and the keeper's house has a wood-framed ell attached. The tower is an octagonal stone structure 35 feet (11 m) in height and 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter, with a circular glass lantern house on top. The house is 1½ stories and about 30 feet (9.1 m) square. [4]
The federal government built a lighthouse on Windmill Point in Stonington Harbor in 1824; it was housed in a small granite lighthouse and was known by the same name. However, erosion led to its being torn down and its materials reused in the construction of this lighthouse. The light was originally lit by an oil lamp and broadcast by eight parabolic reflectors. This technology was already obsolete at the time of the lighthouse's construction, and it was replaced by a sixth-order Fresnel lens in 1856. [4]
In the 1880s, the Stonington Breakwater Light was constructed farther out in the harbor, and the Stonington Harbor Light was decommissioned in 1889. The site is now the home of the Stonington Historical Society which uses the building as The Old Lighthouse Museum. Holdings in the museum document the area's long and distinguished cultural and nautical history, and exhibits include the 1856 Fresnel lens.
A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.
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