The Stony Point Light is the oldest

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 ...

on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. It is located at the

Stony Point Battlefield Stony Point Battlefield is a historic site in Rockland County, New York; the location of the 1779 Battle of Stony Point during the American Revolutionary War. It is a National Historic Landmark and has a museum. History The site was purchased and ...

in Stony Point, New York. The lighthouse was built in 1826 by Thomas Phillips, to warn ships away from the rocks of the Stony Point

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

. The completion of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

the previous year, which linked New York City to America's heartland, increased traffic on the Hudson River dramatically, and the need for navigational aids was paramount.Stony Point (Hudson River) at Lighthouse Friends
/ref> Its design is an octagonal pyramid, made entirely of stone. In service for nearly 100 years, the lighthouse had a series of keepers, most notably the Rose family. The Rose home is also on the Historic Register. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1925 and was acquired by the parks commission in 1941. 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 ...

in 1979. Through the efforts of the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, the Palisades Park Interstate Commission, and NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, restoration of the lighthouse began in 1986. The exterior was repaired and painted and the lantern was reglazed. On October 7, 1995, restoration was complete, and the light was activated for the first time in 70 years. The automatic light, operated by solar power, beams a flash of light once every four seconds. It is open to the public. Stony Point Light is shown on the NOAA Chart 12343NOAA Chart 12343
/ref>

References

External links

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Stony Point Lighthouse
- from Lighthousefriends.com

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1826 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) 1826 establishments in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Rockland County, New York Transportation buildings and structures in Rockland County, New York