Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse acquired it’s name from H. Swift’s 1942 children’s classic story. The popularity gained by the same book saved it from being dismantled when it became obsolete.
Here are the facts you ought to know:
Built in: 1889
Height: 40 ft (12 m)
Construction: Cast Iron
Foundation: Concrete
The Little Red Lighthouse (officially Jeffrey’s Hook Light) is a small lighthouse located right under the George Washington Bridge in Fort Washington Park on the Hudson River in New York City.
First built as the North Hook Beacon at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where it stood until 1917.
Reconstructed at its current location in 1921 by the United States Coast Guard as part of a project to improve Hudson River navigational aids.
Originally had a battery-powered lamp and a fog bell operated by a part-time lighthouse keeper.
When the George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, the lighthouse was considered to be obsoleted by the bridge’s navigational lights.
Decommissioned in 1948, the nautical structure would have been dismantled, if not for a beloved children’s book inspired by its story: Hildegarde Swift’s “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge”. A public outcry, generated by thousands of children’s letters, saved the lighthouse which was thereafter deeded to the city.
The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse” in 1979, and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1991.
In 2002, it was relighted by the city.
Public access to the lighthouse is by the Hudson River Greenway, reachable north of the George Washington Bridge by a footbridge across the Henry Hudson Parkway at West 182nd Street and Riverside Drive, and south of the bridge by a footbridge at West 158th Street
The northern path is very steep immediately north of the bridge, while the southern path is flat
Tours of the ligthhouse are given on an infrequent basis, arranged by the Parks Department’s Urban Park Rangers, especially on the Little Red Lighthouse Festival day in mid-September and Open House New York day in October.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fortwashingtonpark/monuments/810
MAP & DIRECTIONS:
