The Little Red Lighthouse

The Little Red Lighthouse. Fort Washington Park. , What was here before? , Native Americans known locally as the Weckquaesgeek, part of the Lenape tribe, inhabited much of upper Manhattan and eastern New Jersey. the Weckquaesgeek and later Dutch and English colonists fished and hunted along the banks of the Hudson River, which became an important travel route connecting upstate cities such as Albany to New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. As traffic increased along the river, so did the number of shipwrecks at Jeffrey's Hook. To reduce accidents at Jeffrey's Hook, a red pole jutting out over the river was placed here to warn travelers of danger. In 1889, two 10-candlepower lanterns were placed on the pole to aid navigation. Much of the land surrounding the lighthouse, including the riverbanks of Jeffrey's Hook, was acquired by the City in 1896 and became known as Fort Washington Park., How was this create? , In the early 20th century, barge captains carrying goods along the Hudson demanded a brighter beacon. The Little Red Lighthouse had been erected in Sandy Hook, New Jersey in 1880, where it used a 1,000 pound fog signal that flashed red to guide ships through the night. It became obsolete and was dismantled in 1917. In 1921, the U.S. Coast Guard reconstructed this lighthouse on Jefferey's Hook to improve navigational aids on the Hudson River. run by a part-time keeper and furnished with a battery-powered lamp and a fog bell, the lighthouse, then known as Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, was guided to river travelers for ten years. The George Washington Bridge opened in 1931 and the brighter bridge lights made the lighthouse obsolete. In 1948, the Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse and its lamp was extinguished., The Coast Guard planned to auction off the lighthouse, but an outpouring of support for the beacon helped save it. The outcry was prompted by the children's book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, written by Hildegard Swift and Lynd Ward in 1942. In the popular book, the Little Red Lighthouse is happy and content until a great bridge is built over it. In the end, the lighthouse learns that it still has an important job to do and that there is still a place in the world for an old lighthouse. The classic tale captured the imaginations of children and adults, many of whom wrote letters and sent money to help save the icon from the auction block., On July 23, 1951, the Coast Guard gave the property to NYC Parks, and on May 29, 1979, the Little Red Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1986, NYC Parks hosted a party in honor of the lighthouse's 65th anniversary and to celebrate a renovation of the lighthouse that included the reconstruction of the concrete foundation and installation of new steel doors. In 2000, the lighthouse received a fresh coat of red paint that was true to its original, historical color, along with new interior lighting and electric lines. Today, the Little Red Lighthouse remains a stalwart symbol of the area's heritage, lighting the way into the city's past., The Little Red Lighthouse is owned by NYC Parks and is part of the Historic House Trust of New York City.