The Bridgeport Harbor Light, later the Bridgeport Harbor Lighthouse, was a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern 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 cap ...

, United States. It is located on the west side of the

Bridgeport Harbor Bridgeport Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. Bridgeport Harbor is a federal shipping port and ...

entrance and the north side of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

. Originally constructed in 1851 and rebuilt in 1871 with a dwelling, it had a red-fixed light throughout its service life. The builder and first keeper of the light was Abraham A. McNeil who is also credited as improvising the first light for the Bridgeport Harbor in 1844. By 1953, the lighthouse was in poor condition and the United States Coast Guard opted to build a skeleton tower in its place. In the 2014 edition of the ''Light List Volume 1'', the skeleton tower is marked as "Light 13A" with a height of and a visual marker of a square green dayboard with a green reflective border. The lighthouse was sold and an attempt was made to move it to serve as a monument for Connecticut's maritime history, but it was later decided to scrap the structure. The lighthouse caught fire and was destroyed during the dismantling in 1953.

1851 light

According to Waldos ''History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 1'', Abraham A. McNeil first set a light atop a mast to mark the

in 1844. The next day Captain John Brooks Jr. set up his own improvised light with another boat. Constructed in 1851, the first Bridgeport Harbor Light was an octagonal tower on a box-like structure stood on iron piles. The exact details of its construction are not recorded and there is no complete description, but it is known to have had a fixed red light. Waldo identifies Abraham A. McNeil as the builder of the light. The light had no keeper's quarters and was only accessible by boat. By 1870, a new lighthouse was needed, partly because of the increased maritime traffic.

1871 lighthouse

Completed in 1871, the rebuilt light had a dwelling with the attached tower containing a fourth-order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

. It retained the original fixed red light, but also included a fog bell. In 1900, the lighthouse was identified in the ''Light List'' as having a red screw-pile structure, a white tower and dwelling with a slate-gray Mansard roof topped with a black lantern. The lighthouse had a fog signal that sounded every 15 seconds and was operated by machinery. Although the focal height of the light is unlisted, the center of the light stood above the ground. In 1873, a request for $5,500, was submitted to Congress for the "additional protection" of the "screw-pile light house". During the first session of the 43rd Congress, the $5,500 was appropriated for the lighthouse. In 1898, during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

the lighthouse was equipped with 10-inch guns to ward off enemy attacks, making it one of the few armed American lighthouses in history. These guns never saw action as there was no attack on the coast. In 1920, $5925 was estimated to be needed for

riprap Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...

protection. By 1953, the lighthouse was in poor condition and the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

opted to replace it with a skeleton tower. The lighthouse was sold to the Fairfield Dock Company, which initially planned to move it ashore, but it was later decided to dismantle and scrap it. A plan existed to move the lighthouse ashore to a city park as a monument to Connecticut's maritime heritage, but the location could not be agreed upon.

Skeleton tower

The skeleton tower constructed from 1953 continues to serve Bridgeport Harbor. In the 2014 edition of the ''Light List Volume 1'', the skeleton tower is marked as "Light 13A" with a height of and a visual marker of a square green dayboard with a green reflective border.

List of keepers

References

External links