Peck Ledge Lighthouse, Norwalk Connecticut

Date added: February 19, 2023 Categories: Connecticut Lighthouse

Caisson and tower, camera facing southeast (1989)

Peck Ledge Lighthouse, established in 1906, is a typical example of the prefabricated, cast-iron conical lighthouses and foundations developed by the U.S. Lighthouse Board to reduce costs of designs production, and installation for the difficult sites which remained unmarked by the end of the nineteenth century. These sites included wave-washed shoals, reefs, ledges and newly created breakwaters. The lighthouse is a component of the late nineteenth century improvements to the approaches to Norwalk Harbor. Larger ships of deeper draft were in jeopardy from underwater hazards which had previously gone unmarked by a light station.

The archipelago of the Norwalk Islands forms both a protection and an obstacle for the harbor at Norwalks Connecticut. When the desire for increased commercial traffic in the late nineteenth century brought dredging and improvement in aids to navigation to the Norwalk Harbor area, the old lighthouse on Sheffield Island in the Norwalk Group was felt to be inadequate for guiding boat traffic around the east and west ends of the island chain into Norwalk Harbor.

Lobbying efforts were undertaken in 1896 for appropriations for two lighthouses, each to mark an underwater rock ledge at either end of the Norwalk Islands. A pre-fabricated, cast-iron lighthouse on a tubular cast-iron foundation was approved for Greens Ledge at the western location in 1899, It was completed in 1902 for the sum of $60,000.00.

Peck Ledge, at the eastern end of the archipelago, was the other site selected for a new lighthouse. Beginning in 1896, repeated requests for an appropriation were voiced until 1901, when an appropriation for $10,000 was made. A decision to include accommodations for two keepers in the design led to requests for an additional $29,000.00 appropriation. By the beginning of 1905, contracts were let for the construction and fabrication of metal for the lighthouse. That summer the materials were delivered, and the foundation cylinder was assembled, leveled up and sunk. Two hundred fifty bags of concrete were used to fill the foundation. Construction was halted in July 1905 due to delay in the delivery of the metal parts. By March 1906 assembly of the first and second story plates of the shell had begun. Both foundation and superstructure were composed of curved cast-iron sections assembled on site and bolted together with flanges molded around each section.

The U.S. Lighthouse Board had developed this construction method in 1873 for the Hunting Island, S.C. lighthouse, where the problem of erosion necessitated a lighthouse which could be disassembled and moved. By 1876 the Board employed such cast-iron plates to construct tubular lighthouse foundations for northern lighthouses where ice floes threatened the stability of screwpile lighthouses on waterbound sites. The use of similar construction techniques for the superstructure led to the design of the round-plans truncated cone cast-iron lighthouse which could be adapted to a variety of heights and dimensions to suit individual sites. It was widely used by the U.S. Lighthouse Board between 1880 and ca. 1910.

Peck Ledge exemplifies this lighthouse design. Window and door detail place it in the second period of cast-iron cone lighthouse designs as the deeply molded,, peaked window hoods and arch-topped sash of the first iron cones (ca.1878-1895) were superceded by the flat-topped windows and simplified classical trim of later structures (ca.1885-1906). Pecks Ledge is a late example of the second phase. By 1909 a new phase had emerged, exemplified by Miah Maull lighthouse in Delaware Bay. Larger in diameter, with molded cornices replacing brackets and multiple windows around each story, and a roofed gallery surrounding the first level, Miah Maull recalls the silhouette of a tiered wedding cake.

Lighthouse Description

Peck Ledge Lighthouse, established in 1906, stands at the northeast end of the Norwalk Islands chain near the coast of Connecticut in Long Island Sound. It stands in seven feet of water, marking two hazards 1n the approach to Norwalk Harbor from the east: Peck Ledge to the southwest, and a shoal extending north from Goose Island. The site includes only a protective ring of riprap around the foundation; no breakwater or dock provides a sheltered approach. The structure consists of a large conical, cast-iron tower which rests on a cast-iron cylindrical foundation. Presently, the foundation is painted blacks while the tower is white with a wide brown band in the middle.

The foundation is constructed of curved cast-iron plates, bolted together through flanges cast on the edges of the inner surface. Assembled on land near the proposed location of the lighthouse, the foundation was transported to the prepared site, sunk and leveled, then filled with 250 bags of concrete. Space was left at the top center for a basement containing cisterns for the storage of rainwater.

Covering the foundation and supporting the superstructure is a circular decks also constructed of bolted-together cast-iron plates. The deck, supported by colossal cast-iron brackets with open triangular centers, extends beyond the outside walls of the foundation, forming a gallery. A roofs presently removed, originally covered the gallery, while metal stanchions, designed for a triple hand rail, remains anchored through sleeves on the outward projection of the brackets by cast-iron pendants. The tower, measuring 54 feet high above mean high water at the focal plane, is constructed of curved cast-iron plates in the form of a truncated cone, brick-lined for stability and insulation. Contained within are three stories of living spaces surmounted by a circular watchroom and circular lantern.

Opening onto the east side of the gallery is a flat topped doorway flanked by stylized cast-iron detail: tapered pilasters resting on simple plinths, topped by a simple segmentally arched and eared lintel with ogee consoles. .Window surrounds have a similar appearance; however, here plinths are replaced with projecting sills below wood window frames with flat tops. Three windows on the two lower stories are asymmetrically arranged to accommodate the interior layout. The third story is lighted by five bullseye windows at the level of the molded joint between the top two cast-iron plates. Each bullseye window is flanked by brackets similar to, but smaller in scale than, the colossal ones supporting the watchroom gallery. A triple railing edges the watchroom gallery supported by cylindrical stanchions topped with spherical knobs. Plain round stanchions, supporting a cylindrical handrail, are anchored into the molded edge of the lantern deck, marking the joints of cast-iron deck segments. The lantern and watchroom galleries are connected on the exterior by a metal ladder.

On the interior, a peripheral cast-iron winding stair connects the firsts second and third floors. The outer ends of the treads and risers are attached to the brick lining of the superstructure. A curved sheet metal wall on each level supports the inner end of the treads and risers. Storage space is created above and below the steps in the stairwell on each level in the form of a closet and a cupboard. A curved ship's ladder on the third and fourth levels provides access to the watchroom and the lantern above through hatchways fitted with double leafed metal doors. The brick-lined basement is reached by a flight of steep peripheral stairs. A central cast-iron column rises from the cellar level to the watchroom,s supporting the cast-iron floors of the four stories above. Narrow board wood flooring covers the wedge-shaped sections of the cast-iron floor on the first and second stories. Much of the interior detailing remains, including molded panels above the basement stairs and kitchen closet, vertical beaded board sheathing, and moldings around window and door openings.

The cylindrical watchroom is sheathed with narrow wood beaded boards on walls and ceiling. An eight light wood sash window in the watchroom has been sealed with plywood. In the cylindrical lantern, diagonal brass channels divide the curved glass panes which fill the top half of the cast-iron walls. Each pane measures 36 inches on the diagonal. Vertical board sheathing remains in the lantern, although the original lighting apparatus has been removed. A Dutch door opens onto the lantern deck. An eight-sectioneds conical cast-iron roofs lined with galvanized sheet metal, tops the lantern and supports the modern 250 mm. battery-powered lights which flashes green every 4 seconds.

All the windows are sealed with plywood; most if the sash and interior surrounds remain in place with their glass removed.

In May 1989, the modern illumination apparatus mounted on the lantern roof was being replaced by a smaller lighting system mounted inside the cupola.