The East Point Light, known as the Maurice River Light before 1913, is 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 ...

located in

Heislerville, New Jersey Heislerville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) that is part of Maurice River Township in Cumberland County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was named after the Heisler family, prominent members of the Methodist ...

on the Delaware Bay at the mouth of the Maurice River in

Maurice River Township Maurice River Township () is the easternmost township in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Vineland- Millville- Bridgeton Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area for statistical purposes. As of the 2010 United States ...

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The lighthouse was built in 1849 and is the second oldest in New Jersey, with only the

Sandy Hook Light __NOTOC__ The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles (2.4 km) inland from the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States. It was designed and built on June 11, 1764 by Isa ...

, which was built in 1764, being older. The light was inactive from 1941 and was nearly destroyed by fire in 1971. The light was reinstated by the

United States 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, mult ...

in 1980. Exterior restoration was completed in 1999. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on August 25, 1995 for its significance in engineering, maritime history, and transportation. It became part of the Maurice River Lighthouse and East Point Archeological District on October 30, 2015. The lighthouse was just recently fully restored, both the exterior and interior work was completed in 2017. The lighthouse is now both an active navigational aid and a year-round museum open to the public for tours and special events throughout the year.

Status

The light is said to be critically endangered due to erosion. Although local governments routinely shore up the property's perimeter, using sand bags and

bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...

s, the lighthouse is a mere from the shore. There was four times the beach as revealed by 1940

aerial photo Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...

s. During storms the surf is from its front steps. A rally to save the lighthouse was held in the fall of 2018. Since then more sandbags have been added, paid for by the State of New Jersey and using the sandbags available the sandbag seawall was rebuilt by coordinated efforts of both the Maurice River Township and Cumberland County Road Departments. A

geotube A geotextile tube (also known as a titan tube or geotube) is a large, tube-shaped bag made of porous, weather-resistant geotextile and filled with a sand slurry, to form an artificial coastal structure such as a breakwaters, dune or levee. Geo ...

system is planned to be installed the summer of 2019 by the State of New Jersey to help hold the point and protect the lighthouse until more lasting measures can be taken.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

*
Visiting East Point Lighthouse
- New Jersey Lighthouse Society

*
East Point Light
- from Lighthousefriends.com * {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1849 Houses completed in 1849 1849 establishments in New Jersey Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures in Cumberland County, New Jersey Maurice River Township, New Jersey Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey

Status

See also

References

Notes

Citations

External links