BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY KAREN BOWES Clockwise from top left: The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, built in the late 18th century, is one of only five lighthouses in the U.S. that dates from pre-Revolutionary War times. The bayside view from the lighthouse shows a row of officers’ houses in the far distance, the Fort Hancock gymnasium and the former base PX. Connie Witherby, a supervisory park ranger at Fort Hancock, and Karyn Stebbins, a summer intern, host free guided tours of the lighthouse. The temperature at the top of the lighthouse reached 105 degrees during a recent heat wave. The Fresnel lens arrived at the lighthouse in 1857 and is still in use today. The spiral staircase inside has three landings, making it easier for visitors to climb. SANDY HOOK — Spiraling up the narrow staircase of the Sandy Hook lighthouse, it’s easy to get swept up in the past.
“Imagine what it was like for the lighthouse keeper, schlepping oil and stuff up these stairs every day,” said Connie Witherby, a supervisory park ranger in the Division of Interpretation at Fort Hancock.
Once at the top of the tower, Witherby, dressed in her green park ranger uniform, points out what was the original coastline tip, a mere 500 feet away from the tower. Today, the peninsula’s tip is more than one and a half miles from the lighthouse.
Turns out, 200 years ago, Sandy Hook was a lot more dangerous.
“The merchants of New York actually paid for this lighthouse to be built,” said Witherby.
Tired of having their cargo lost to the treacherous waterway surrounding Sandy Hook, city merchants pooled their money to pay for the lighthouse’s construction in 1764.
“There are only five pre-Revolutionary War lighthouses still standing,” said Witherby. “This is the only one still standing where it was originally built.”
The history of the tower is well documented. Used by the British as a fort during the majority of the Revolution, an American rebel raiding party removed copper lamps and casks of whaling oil from the tower in March of 1776. A few months later, in June, the patriots attempted to attack and destroy the lighthouse but found it impossible.
In 1776, Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper wrote that he “ordered the artillery to play, which continued an hour, but found the walls so firm I could make no impression,” according to text prepared by Thomas J. Hoffman, the park historian.
The lighthouse may not have changed much since those days, but the view certainly has.
“In 1764, there wasn’t a whole lot out here,” said Witherby.
These days, the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge and Empire State Building are in plain sight.
“On a clear day, you can see for 19 miles,” said Karyn Stebbins, a recent college graduate who is spending her summer as an intern with the Student Conservation Association (SCA), a federal program that places college students in national parks for 12 weeks.
Stebbins, who wears the SCA uniform, is one of three interns hosting weekday guided tours of the lighthouse this summer, a service that until her arrival had only been provided on the weekends. Stebbins lives on-site in the old bachelor officers’ quarters, and said she chose to come to Sandy Hook specifically because of the lighthouse.
“I wanted to be a lighthouse keeper when I was little,” said Stebbins. “I wanted to do some kind of community service, and the idea of having a lighthouse I can climb every day is just amazing.”
According to Witherby, the lighthouse averages approximately 23 visitors a day during the week, and approximately 80 per day on the weekends. Although the lighthouse keeper’s quarters are currently off limits due to a renovation project, the Fort Han-cock museum, located across the parking lot from the lighthouse, stands in nicely.
Of due interest at the museum are archival photos and memorabilia of the military base from World War II. Also, a small corner dedicated to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is worth a look.
The CCC, one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal” programs begun in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, offered young men housing, food, clothing and a small stipend. In return, the men cleared trails and built roads, among many other contributions.
On hand at the museum are blue pamphlets that give a brief history of the lighthouse, with a nod to the Twin Lights of Highlands.
Tours of the lighthouse are offered every half-hour from 1-4 p.m. during the week and noon to 4:30 p.m. on weekends. Children must be 48 inches tall to climb the tower. For more information, call the Visitors Center at (732) 872-5970 or visit www.nps.gov/gate.