Shedding a Light on the Subject {!!!} - Horton Point Lighthouse - "Shine It On!" - A True Beacon of History {!!!}
Horton Point Lighthouse info
By Danny McCarthy:
As I say in my? Who Bought the Farm? post: "Just for the sake of it: Pugliese Vineyards was established in 1980 and is located in "The Hollow" on the Main Road in Cutchogue. Pugliese Vineyards' owner Pat Pugliese's son Ralph Pugliese Jr. is a renowned photographer. Don't forget: The?Southold Historical Museum?has some of the items available by Ralph Pugliese Jr. in the Museum Gift Shop!"
Here's a link to get to Ralph Pugliese Jr's website: https://ralphjr.com/
BELOW-IS-SOMETHING-NOT-THAT--FAR-FROM-A-MISSING-LINK CARRYING AN ENTRY LINK FROM THE Southold Historical Museum website regarding HORTON POINT LIGHTHOUSE:
NOW - HERE IS "MY TAKE" ABOUT THE HORTON POINT LIGHTHOUSE:
The Statue of Liberty has always been considered to be our most famous lighthouse even though it only served as an official aid to navigation for just 16 years from 1886 to 1902. It is 151 feet and one-inch tall with the pedestal and foundation adding another 154 feet. It was the very first lighthouse to be electrified in 1886. The Statue of Liberty features seven points in her crown where each one represents one of the continents.
In 2007, we celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the building of the Horton Point Lighthouse. The water surrounding the Horton property was called “Dead Man’s Cove” since the notorious and dangerous coast with rocky waters and sandbars made it difficult for ships. Record has it that in 1756, a young surveyor, farmer and soldier from Virginia named George Washington, of about 25 years of age, thought about the possibility of a lighthouse while traveling on the North Fork with Ezra L’Hommedieu, to be placed on the soundfront site overlooking the bluffs where the present lighthouse is located. The land was not available when Washington commissioned the spot during the time he was the first president of the United States in 1790. The tower and the joined-keeper’s dwelling stand on the Cliff Lot of Barnabas Horton’s original land grant.
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Ezra L’Hommedieu, an American statesman, was born in Southold on August 30, 1734 who represented New York in the Continental Congress, the State Assembly, among other local offices, and was the author of the Empire State’s constitution. He helped to design the lighthouse at Montauk Point and was also known for developing methods of scientific farming, including the use of seashells to fertilize soils. He passed away at the age of 77 in 1811 and is buried in the Southold Presbyterian Church Cemetery next to his former first wife, Charity Floyd, whose brother was General William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Barnabas Horton was a native of Mouseley in Leicestershire. He was born in 1600. He was a right hand man of Rev. John Youngs serving as his chief of staff who served the community in a variety of capacities and public offices. He was one of the outstanding first settlers of Southold in 1640 who was a baker by trade as well as an overseer of the town. A man of property is evidenced by his holdings that fill three entire pages of the?Southold Town Records, including selling his interest in Plum Island on May 12, 1666. He was one of seven men appointed to make certain that Aquebogue meadows and other Southold town lands pay their just share of the town’s assessments. He was constable, and deputy in the New Haven Court, among other positions. One of his first sons, Caleb, was the first child born in the Settlement. Barnabas and his sons were wealthier than any other family in Southold. Barnabas Horton died in Southold on July 13, 1680. His epitaph reads: “Here sleeps my body tombed in the dust, Till Christ shall come and raise it with the just.”
The lot remained in the Horton family through six generations. The Hortons sold eight acres to Charles and Hannah Payne for $100 in 1850. In 1855, they sold the site to the government for $550. It wasn’t until 1857, that the Horton Point Lighthouse was finished under the supervision of Scottish immigrant William Sinclair, who served as its first keeper.
The light station consisted of the 58’ tall square tower and a detached keeper’s residence. Both were constructed of New England granite and cut stone and locally acquired brick, timbers and lumber. The connecting tower between the tower and annex was added later. Horton Point’s original optic was a 3rd-order Fresnel lens and a single whale oil-fed lamp. It showed a fixed white light. In 1907, an incandescent oil vapor lamp powered the lens. In June 1932, Horton Point’s warning responsibility was transferred to an airport-type optic placed atop a cliffside skeletal steel tower. Six months later, the station was decommissioned and the Fresnel lens removed to storage. The presently modern optic was installed in 1990.
The station’s last keeper was George Erhardt in 1933. His daughter, Marguerite, remained in the area and helped direct the eventual restoration of the lighthouse in 1990, when a team of volunteers from the Southold Historical Society, the Southold Parks District and the Coast Guard renovated the site by repainting the light tower, installing new lantern glass, making electrical repairs, developing a new shop area, opening a hallway, and building a stairway to the restored basement. The Nautical Shop and Museum was usually open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.
Horton Point Lighthouse is listed in the New York State Register of Historical Places and the U.S. Register of Historical Places. The Horton Point site is populated with many trees, brush and wildlife and also includes a nature trail.
Robert G. Muller writes and lectures on the history of lighthouses. He’s the founding president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society and the founder of LongIslandLighthouse.com who has authored?New York State Lighthouses?and?Long Island Lighthouses: Past and Present, among other books.
"The eight-acre park { aka LIGHTOUSE PARK GROUNDS } is owned and maintained by the Southold Park District. It provides one of the most spectacular seascapes on Long Island's north shore. Here one can view the Sound and visualize its many moods, its past and present commerce and the challenges which faced { Long Island }refugees traveling to and from from the Connecticut coast when Eastern Long Island was occupied by the British from 1777-1784. One can also conjure up visions of the Sloops of war in 1812 and {World War] II convoys of the {1940s}.
West of the [lighthouse-keepers'} dwelling is a menhaden boiling pot from the burned down from East Marion processing factory. It was later salvaged by the fisher. It was later salvaged by fishermen used it to tar their nets on the beach.
Lying north of the tower [the Horton Point Lighthouse] rests the recovered anchor of the side-wheeler {Commodore} which was shipwrecked on December 25-26, 1866. The {two-cast-iron-}bollards and bitt at the end of the clamshell drive were donated in 1990 by the Cross Sound Ferry Company.
The [80-foot flag-pole] was a gift from the United States coast Guard on June 7, 1990 when the light was returned to the present owner. It is mounted on the foundation of the 1933 skeletal tower which was demolished.
NAUTICAL MUSEUM
The Nautical Museum displays {a} unique collection of both museum owned and other early marine artifacts. Sea chests, paintings, photographs, maps, scrimshaw, baymen's tools, and various marine displays create for the visitor a vision of life, culture, and craftsmanship of the farmer-mariners of Southold Town. While some earned their livelihood from the bounty of the Sound, bays, and creeks, others sailed the oceans of the world in search of whales or profitable cargos and to protect our national interests." { From the brochure/hand-out availaABle from the Southold Historical Museum. }
THANKS TO SOUTHOLD HISTORICAL MUSEUM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEANNA WITTE-WALKER:
"We have been closing the Nautical Museum at Horton Point Lighthouse in mid-September for a number of years now.?The volunteers noted that once pumpkin picking season begins, the visitors no longer seem to make it to the Lighthouse.?We also lose a few volunteers after Labor Day so it makes it harder to find docents."
~ Horton Point Lighthouse is open to the public seasonally on weekends from 11:30 am to 4 pm between Memorial Day -{&}- mid-September. Parking is by Southold Town permit only -{!}- Admission {cash only} is $5; $10 for families. For more information visit southoldhistorical.org ~