Gateway National Recreation Area celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse on June 14.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse was the fifth of 11 lighthouses built in the 13 British colonies between 1716 and 1773. It is the nation’s oldest standing and operating lighthouse.
In 1964 — its bicentennial year — the lighthouse was designated a National Historic Landmark.
“For 250 years, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse has stood as a beacon of hope, surviving a revolution, hurricanes and two world wars,” Gateway National Recreation Area Superintendent Jennifer T. Nersesian said. “Since its first lighting in 1764, it has guided thousands of ships to safe harbor, keeping countless lives safe.” The Fifes & Drums of the Old Barracks, Trenton, opened the ceremony last weekend with Colonialera marching music, while high school students from the Marine Academy of Science & Technology (MAST) at Sandy Hook welcomed the public with a color-guard performance.
The day featured lighthouse tours, musket and cannon demonstrations by living historians, musket drills, Colonial-era children’s games, 1700sera bateau demonstrations, the MAST Interactive Herbarium, and talks on the life of a lighthouse keeper and the history of Colonial lighthouses by U.S. Lighthouse Society President Wayne Wheeler.
Gateway National Recreation Area celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the nation’s oldest standing and operating lighthouse, on June 14. The celebration opened with The Fifes & Drums of the Old Barracks in Trenton playing Colonial-era music, and a color guard of students of the Marine Academy of Science and Technology. PHOTOS BY FRANK GALIPO