SANDY HOOK: CAMS AND PARTY MARK 250TH
National Park Service spokesman John Harlan Warren explains the Fresnel lens used in the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. (Photo by Dan Natale. Click to enlarge)
By DAN NATALE
On the night of June 11, 1764, stonemason Isaac Conro watched his newest creation come to life. Several pounds of whale oil were poured into a copper lamp atop the Sandy Hook lighthouse and lit aflame, offering ships at sea a guide into New York Harbor.
On Wednesday, the 250th anniversary of that milestone, the switch was thrown on the latest additions to the 103-foot-tall lighthouse: a pair of livestream cams.
The structure – the oldest continually operated lighthouse in the United States – “is an example of how you can preserve something if you take care of it,” said John Harlan Warren, a spokesman for the National Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area, of which Sandy Hook is part. More →