Lighthouses
are Links to Port Jefferson's Past
Article from the Port Jefferson Record 9/26/96
BY ROBERT
AND PAT HANSELL SISLER
Copyright © 1996
Robert and Pat Hansell Sisler. All rights reserved.
Special thanks to Robert and Pat Hansell
Sisler for permission to display this article and for their assistance in researching the
lost lighthouse of Port Jefferson Harbor Breakwater.
Since the days of Pharos in
ancient Greece, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, mariners have needed the
lighthouse to guide them in storms--especially at night or in the fog. The need was felt here as early as 1824.
Harlan Hamilton in his book, Lights
and Legends, speaks of the first lighthouse at Old Field
Point on Port Jefferson Harbor started in 1823 and completed in 1825. It was needed to
mark the treacherous rocks there. The land was purchased for $400 from Samuel Thompson and
Congress appropriated $2,000 for its construction. Another $1,500 was added in 1825 to
finish it.
Hamilton points out that the
light had nine whale oil lamps arranged in a lantern magnified with parabolic reflectors.
The five room house was made of rough stone. Oil for the lamps was stored in a tower
separate from the house. This little story-and-a-half lighthouse still stands and is used
as the Old Field Village Hall. The keepers of this light were Edward Shoemaker and his
wife; Walter Smith and his wife, Elizabeth; Mary A. Foster; and Bery Floyd.
By the time of the civil war
and before the arrival of the railroad in Port Jefferson, a second lighthouse was
constructed for the increased traffic of larger ships including steamers that plied the
Sound. It was built in front of the earlier one and was made larger to be seen farther.
The tower is 28 feet and stands 67 feet above the sea. The circular beacon area at the top
of the tower is six feet in diameter surrounded by an iron platform. Kerosene was first
used to power the lamp. Today the electric unit emits an alternating red and green beacon.
It has a 500 watt light with a range of 20 miles.
The first keeper of the
second structure was George D. Lee, father of Holmes Lee and Clarence Lee of Port
Jefferson. George's father-in-law, Azariah Davis, who also lived at the lighthouse, kept a
diary of life there in the early 1870s. His list of visitors reads like a "Who is
Who" of the period from the "Port." For example, 1,363 visitors filed into
the lighthouse in 1873 including everyone and his sister as well as Ephriam Tuthill of
carriage-building fame and Reuben Wilson, the sail maker. In those days, visitors to the
Port would be brought to the lighthouse, as its principal attraction. Photos of the
lighthouse also appeared on postcards.
Five miles to the north at
Stratford Shoal, Middleground Light was built in 1876. Prior to that time the shoal had
been marked by a lightship since 1838. The lightship was separated from the shoal in
storms as noted by Azariah Davis in his diary. The lightboat was a 100 ton vessel with a
1,200 pound anchor and lights from both masts at 40 feet and 50 feet. The lighthouse is 60
feet high and has a white beacon.
Although these lighthouse
warned of the dangers of shoals and rocks, there was as yet no marker to show the channel
entrance at Port Jefferson Harbor. Lewis Davis in his account of the packet Jacob Duryea, tells a
story attributed to Nelson Davis. He says that since there was no lighthouse at the harbor
mouth, a boy was hired to row out and signal with a lantern if the ship did not make the
port by dark. Sounds like a dangerous job--especially in foul weather.
Also, Azariah Davis's diary mentions Mr. Terrell lighting his light for
the first time in three months after a long ice-bound winter. Was his light in a ship's
mast? Who knows? We do know that Reuben Wilson's sail loft had a lighthouse tower on it
right across the street from the present concrete lighthouse building on East Broadway. In
any event, a lighthouse did appear there in the later years of the last century.
There was no lighthouse there in the 1878 list but it shows up in the
lighthouse list of 1903 as Port Jefferson breakwater
lighthouse--on the east breakwater. So, it was built some time in the 1880's or 90's.
It also shows up on early postcards. It appears from photos and Wm. Davis' paintings to
have been altered or replace a couple of times. Pat Hansell Sisler remembers it as a young
girl in the late 30s. It was a small wooden structure. When her family went boating and
forgot the salt, the lighthouse keeper provided some. George Odell remembers Herman Burke
as possibly the first lighthouse keeper. He rowed out to Port Jefferson lighthouse and Middleground light to
service them regularly.
Fred Bone remembers Fred Lane as the keeper in the early 30s and John
Cozier through the 40s. The structure was destroyed in the early 50s, and all that remains
today is a concrete slab. |