East Charity Shoal Light, Cape Vincent New York

Date added: November 03, 2024

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New York
Lighthouse

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East Charity Shoal Light is an important offshore aid to navigation in Lake Ontario. It marks hazardous shoals nearby the principal shipping lanes for vessels navigating to and from the St. Lawrence River. This lighthouse's construction was completed in 1935. It is an important local aid to navigation, and continues serving this function today for both commercial shipping and recreational watercraft. The lighthouse structure includes three principal components, a crib foundation and pier, concrete deckhouse, and cast iron light tower. The lighthouse's original optic and illuminating equipment have been removed and replaced with a modern optic and solarized power supply.

East Charity Shoal Light was constructed during the time period when the Federal government engaged in a concerted effort in the Great Lakes to replace light vessels and light buoys marking offshore hazards with permanent lighthouse structures. The harsh winter weather associated with this locality's environmental setting required buoys previously stationed there to be replaced if lost, or repositioned for the beginning of each year's shipping season. To resolve this problem, the Bureau of Lighthouses adopted a construction program for offshore lighthouses using designs that could withstand the forces of strong waves and inclement weather.

The Great Lakes region includes Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, along with their connecting waters and the St. Lawrence River. It is one of the largest concentrations of fresh water on earth. This waterway system has a total shore length of approximately 11,000 statute miles and a total water surface area of about 95,000 square miles. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 linked Lake Erie at Buffalo, New York, with the port of New York City via the Hudson River. This marked the beginning of a period of enormous growth in population, maritime traffic and trade in the Great Lakes Region. In 1829, the Welland Canal opened and linked Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal (the Soo Locks) at Sault Sainte Marie opened in 1855, thus completing one of the last major links in the Great Lakes navigation system. With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, the industrial and agricultural heartland of North America became accessible to deep-draft oceangoing vessels navigating the Great Lakes. In addition, barge and small craft traffic reaches the Great Lakes from the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River and the Illinois Waterway, and also from New York City by way of the Hudson River and the New York State Barge Canal System.

Commerce grew rapidly in the Great Lakes region throughout the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. The lumber industry accounted for early development and expansion of marine traffic, leading to an increase in aids to navigation. Iron ore production in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as grain from farms and flour from mills in the northwest, furnished cargoes carried aboard down-bound vessels. These shipments corresponded with the heavy up-bound movement of coal and manufactured goods from ports in the lower Great Lakes.

By 1910, the amount of goods shipped annually on the Great Lakes increased to 80 million tons. Most of this was bulk cargo such as iron ore and coal. Shipped freight tonnage reached a record of 217 million tons in 1948. The combined movement of lumber, grain, flour, iron ore and coal, together with limestone cargoes from the Lake Michigan area to the centers of steel production, resulted in the greatest bulk freight marine commerce the world has ever seen.

The need for aids to navigation on the Great Lakes increased along with the expansion of shipping and settlement. Seven lighthouses were built in the region between 1818 and 1822, and 32 were completed during the 1830s. From 1841 to 1852, the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment added 33 new lights. Between 1852 and 1860, the total number of aids to navigation increased from 76 to 102. Another construction boom occurred in the 1890s. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Great Lakes had 334 major-lighted aids, 67 fog signals, and 563 buoys.

Several distinct designs or types of lighthouses emerged during the nineteenth century. Until 1870 or so, the most common design consisted of a wood, stone, or brick keeper's dwelling that exhibited the lighthouse's optic in a lantern on the roof or atop an attached square tower. By the 1870s, taller towers that were connected to a keeper's dwelling by an enclosed passageway became popular. From 1870 to around 1910, lighthouse engineers practiced and perfected the construction of light stations built on isolated islands and on crib and pier structures placed atop submerged reefs and shoals. Another widespread lighthouse type in the Great Lakes is the pierhead light, used for guiding vessels into harbors along the coasts. Such lights differ from East Coast lights that serve the same purpose in that they are constructed on piers that project from shore into the lakes rather than on land. Great Lakes breakwater lights are closely related to pierhead lights. Usually constructed of metal plates, they are generally tower-like structures positioned at the head of a breakwater.

Light vessels also served in the Great Lakes region. During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, they were a substitute for building expensive lighthouses at offshore sites. However, harsh weather in late autumn often forced lightships to leave their stations before the end of the shipping season. In the spring, light vessels often had to wait in port until larger, stronger vessels broke the ice. This sometimes prevented their return to assigned locations by the beginning of shipping season. Some dangerous areas were thus left unmarked for a period of time near the start or end of a year's shipping season. To overcome this, lighthouse engineers worked throughout the late 1920s and 1930s to replace all lightships on the Great Lakes with permanent aids to navigation. This contributed a great deal to enhancing maritime safety and commerce.

The maritime history of the Lake Ontario region began in the seventeenth century when French explorers, missionaries and traders visited the area. The first recorded visit was in 1615 by Etienne Brile. Over subsequent decades, the French established outposts, missions and settlements along the shores of Lake Ontario and other Great Lakes. During the early eighteenth century, British colonial expansion westward from the Albany River valley led to Fort Oswego being established in 1722 at present day Oswego, New York. All the colonial forts and trading establishments in the Great Lakes region came under British control during the late 1760s in the aftermath of the French and Indian War. This remained the case until after the American Revolution. In the Lake Ontario area, Britain did not turn over control of its forts along the southern shore, including Fort Oswego, until following the Jay Treaty of 1794.

Continuing diplomatic and economic tensions between Britain and the newly-independent United States during the early nineteenth century eventually flared into open conflict in the War of 1812. Lake Ontario was the setting for significant naval and military activity, including battles at Sackets Harbor, New York, and Kingston, Ontario. The negotiations that ended this war included establishing an international boundary across the Lake. The codification of this border line between the United States and Canada helped sustain the peaceful administration of Lake Ontario that was to follow.

Maritime commerce flourished in the Lake Ontario region from the end of the War of 1812 though the twentieth century. The early stages of this were largely related to trading activities among ports along its shores. A major boost to commerce came later in the nineteenth century with significant achievements in canal-building that established connections with other waterways. The opening of the Welland Canal in 1829 provided access between Lake Ontario and commercial centers farther west in the Great Lakes region. The construction of a system of barge canals across the state of New York spurred waterborne transportation and facilitated the shipment of goods between the Lake Ontario region and the Hudson River including New York City. A final crowning achievement was the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. This allowed sea-going vessels to navigate directly between ports in the Great Lakes and abroad.

Sailing vessels dominated Lake Ontario maritime transportation until long after the introduction of steam-power during the early nineteenth century. Over subsequent decades, lake steamers increased in number and size. During the late nineteenth century, vessels powered by internal combustion engines also made their appearance. While the use of steam and internal combustion engines increased and became predominant by the beginning of the twentieth century, sail-powered vessels continued to be used in Great Lakes maritime commerce until after World War I.

East Charity Shoal and the rest of the Charity Shoals group are located in the open waters of northeastern Lake Ontario some nine miles from the western end of the St. Lawrence River. These hazards to navigation are situated near the principal shipping lanes for vessels navigating between the St. Lawrence River and the Welland Canal at Lake Ontario's western end. The shoals also lie nearby routes followed by vessels moving north and south between eastern Lake Ontario ports.

The rise in volume of maritime commerce on Lake Ontario that extended through the nineteenth century led to increased awareness that measures were required for promoting maritime safety. During the 1850s, a day beacon was erected on East Charity Shoal. It provided a visible warning during daylight. This navigational aid was destroyed by ice during the winter of 1859 to 1860. During subsequent decades, other aids to navigation were placed to mark the shoals. A red second class can buoy was installed there in 1893. A gas buoy that included a red and black base surmounted by a pyramidal latticework supporting an acetylene lantern was placed to mark East Charity Shoal in 1897. It provided a visible warning during daylight and signaled a white light at night that cycled through a 10-second lighted interval followed by an eclipse of 10 seconds. The presence of a light buoy at the Charity Shoal group was not a guarantee of vessel safety, however. On 5 December 1897 the British steamship Rosedale, a freighter carrying grain, ran aground on East Charity Shoal in a storm. It was later re-floated and towed to Kingston, Ontario, for repairs. An improved buoy with a compressed acetylene gas light was established at the shoal in 1901. Its base was painted red with a number "2" in black on two sides. This was surmounted by a pyramidal latticework supporting the gas-light lantern. It displayed the same signal characteristic as its predecessor, 10 seconds of white light followed by 10 seconds of darkness.

In 1910, the U.S. Lighthouse Board was abolished and the U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses was established. The newly-established bureau soon undertook several measures to improve the facilities and operation of the nation's Lighthouse Service. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Bureau of Lighthouses sought to improve aids to navigation at hazardous reefs and shoals in the Great Lakes region by replacing aging light vessels and impermanent lighted buoys with permanent offshore lighthouses. This program took advantage of advances in the design and technology of building and operating offshore lighthouses. It led to the establishment of several new offshore lights including the lighthouse at East Charity Shoal.

In the late 1920s, a severe storm damaged the lighthouse at the Lake Erie entry to the port of Vermillion, Ohio. This was a cast iron tower originally built in 1877. The light's condition after the storm was so deteriorated that it was dismantled and replaced. The disassembled tower was taken to the Lighthouse Depot at Buffalo. It remained there until 1935 when it was repaired and enlarged for reuse.

In the early 1930s, the Bureau of Lighthouses decided to build a lighthouse at East Charity Shoal to replace the lighted buoy which was vulnerable to displacement or damage from ice. The volume of maritime traffic in the Charity Shoals vicinity had increased substantially through the early decades of the twentieth century, and projections indicated even greater traffic in the future. The Bureau's Tenth Lighthouse District office in Buffalo was directly responsible for planning, building and operating this lighthouse. It was decided the light was to be operated automatically without resident keepers. Keepers would need only visit East Charity Shoal Light intermittently for maintenance and refueling.

Construction of a permanent lighthouse on East Charity Shoal began in 1934. Early work included a survey of the proposed lighthouse site, followed by work to prepare its underwater location. A contract was also awarded for building the lighthouse's timber crib foundation and concrete pier, including the emplacement of protective riprap. Built using heavy timbers, the crib was 50 feet square in plan and from 11 to 14 feet tall. Its height variance was designed so the crib would sit comfortably upon the uneven shoal. After the crib was assembled onshore in an inverted position, it was launched and righted, and then towed to the site. It was sunk into position using heavy pre-cast concrete interlocking blocks placed over the crib's 6-foot-wide outer row of pockets. The spaces in the outer pockets were then filled with concrete while the center pockets were filled with rocks. A band of steel plates was affixed to the crib's exterior for ice protection. This extended above the waterline so it overlapped the seam between the wooden crib and the concrete pier that was built above it. The steel plates were made so forms for pouring concrete could be attached. A mat of reinforced concrete was laid across the entire top of the crib, and walls of reinforced concrete were built up to a height 18 feet above the mat. The walls were capped with a concrete deck, and the reinforced concrete deckhouse was constructed on top. This work was completed by the end of June 1935.

While construction was underway at East Charity Shoal, the cast iron light tower from Vermillion, Ohio, was repaired and modified at the Buffalo Lighthouse Depot. This work included fabricating two additional tiers of iron plates to increase the tower's height by one-third. These tiers included the tower's lower story with four port-lights and an exterior water table. The tower was assembled at the depot during fabrication, and then dismantled and taken to East Charity Shoal where it was erected atop the concrete deckhouse. A lantern was placed on top of the tower, and a fourth order Fresnel lens was installed. It was illuminated by compressed acetylene gas. This optic had a focal plane 52 feet above the water, and its illuminant provided a light of 1,300 candlepower. This made the light visible for 15 miles in clear weather. By the time the light was officially established as an operating aid to navigation in 1935, its cost amounted to $95,125.

In 1992, the East Charity Shoal Light's fourth order Fresnel lens was replaced with a modern automated beacon. The original Fresnel lens is presently on display at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Buffalo, New York. The existing modern optic is powered by batteries. The batteries are recharged using a solar array mounted on the lantern gallery. This lighthouse is visited periodically for maintenance by personnel from the Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) responsible for the area.

Structure Description

East Charity Shoal Light is an offshore aid to navigation marking the east side of the Charity Shoals group in northeastern Lake Ontario. It is situated near the principal shipping lanes used by vessels passing to and from the St. Lawrence River. Established in 1935, it is located approximately 9.5 miles southwest of the town of Cape Vincent in Jefferson County, New York. This lighthouse is approximately 56 feet tall and includes a rectangular reinforced concrete pier built atop a wooden crib foundation, protective riprap, a one-story octagonal deckhouse built of reinforced concrete, and a 3-story cast iron octagonal tower topped with a lantern and lantern gallery. The concrete pier measures 50 feet long on each side and rises to approximately 18 feet above the level of Lake Ontario. The deckhouse and light tower are centered atop the pier. The concrete portions of the lighthouse are unpainted. The tower is painted white, and the lantern and lantern gallery are painted black. This property is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard. It is operated as an automated aid to navigation identified as number 1760 in the Great Lakes regional light list. The lantern is equipped with a modern optic that signals a white light that flashes once every four seconds. This optic has a 52-foot focal plane and is visible for 9 miles in clear weather. East Charity Shoal Light stands alone surrounded by water. Access is by boat.

East Charity Shoal Light consists an offshore lighthouse in northeastern Lake Ontario located approximately 0.1 mile from the international border between the United States and Canada. It is approximately 56 feet tall and sits on submerged land in 14 feet of water some 9.5 miles southwest of the town of Cape Vincent in Jefferson County, New York. Lake Ontario waters in the vicinity are traversed by commercial and recreational vessels navigating between the St. Lawrence River and ports in the Great Lakes region. This property includes three principal components. They are its foundation and concrete pier, concrete deckhouse, and cast iron tower. This lighthouse is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). It is operated an automated aid to navigation identified as number 1760 in the Great Lakes regional light list.

The lighthouse's foundation is a rectangular wooden crib ballasted with concrete blocks and rock. This is shielded with a band of steel plates for protection from ice. The crib supports a reinforced concrete pier that rises to approximately 18 feet above the level of Lake Ontario. Each of the four sides of the crib and pier structure measures 50 feet in length. Riprap is emplaced along the pier's north, west, and south sides to protect it from waves, erosion and ice damage. The eastern side is clear and allows for mooring. An 11-rung steel ladder 2.5 feet wide is built into the middle of the pier's eastern side. It provides access from water level to the pier's deck. The pier's eastern face includes two mooring rings near the ends. There are also outlines of two former openings that have been filled with concrete. The northern one was for a sea-door providing access to the lighthouse's basement, which is inside the pier. The other was a window. Two former window openings on the pier's western side have also been filled with concrete.

The top of the pier includes a concrete deck that surrounds the lighthouse's one-story octagonal deckhouse. The deckhouse is centered atop the pier and is built of reinforced concrete. The deck is approximately 15 feet wide from the deckhouse to the pier's perimeter. The deck's outer edge is bounded by a guardrail made with 40-inch tall steel pipe stanchions spaced 6 feet, 9 inches apart. These support three tiers of slack steel chain. The guardrail is painted black. There is a 3.5-foot wide opening on the eastern side in the center where the access ladder is located.

The deckhouse stands 11.5 feet tall and is approximately 20 feet in diameter. The perimeter of its roof is decorated with a classical cornice. Each of the deckhouse's eight sides is 10 feet wide. The northwest side is pierced with a doorway fitted with a 3-foot wide by 7-foot tall steel door with bolt fastenings. Inside this steel door there is a 6-panel wooden door with original hardware. There are three windows, 2.5 feet wide by 4.5 feet tall. They pierce the first story on the northeast, southeast and southwest sides. Each window is fitted with double-hung metal sash with 2-over-2 lights. The lower sash slides upward. Each window is covered on the outside with a two-leaf steel shutter. A guardrail made with steel pipe stands atop the perimeter of the deckhouse roof. It is 1.5 feet tall and is painted black. A steel ladder is attached to the deckhouse exterior on the northern side. It provides access from the pier's deck to the deckhouse roof.

The 3-story octagonal light tower sits atop the deckhouse. It includes the lighthouse's second, third and fourth stories. The tower is made with six tiers of cast iron plates and is surmounted by the lighthouse's lantern and lantern gallery, which form the fifth story. The tower tapers in diameter from approximately 15 feet at the base to approximately 12 feet at the top. Each of its eight sides is 6 feet wide at the base. Near the base of the tower, the lowest tier of cast iron plates includes a projecting water table three feet above the deckhouse roof. This water table is rectangular in cross-section. It projects nine inches from the exterior and is nine inches tall. The tower's fenestration consists of three tiers of circular port-light windows. There are four port-lights on each of the second, third and fourth stories, positioned one above the other on the northwest, northeast, southeast and southwest sides. These windows are aligned vertically with the deckhouse windows and doorway. The second and third story windows are flush with the exterior and decorated with a simple raised circular surround. The fourth story windows are larger and recessed. They include a decorative surround that includes a projecting segmental arch hood with a centered keystone design. A three-tiered cornice surrounds the top of the tower's third story. This cornice flares outward to form the perimeter of the lantern gallery. The tower is painted white.

The lighthouse's fifth story is its octagonal lantern, which sits centered atop the tower. It is made with cast iron plates and glass glazing. The lantern's lower half is a parapet wall made with eight cast iron plates. The glazing above this consists of eight rectangular glass panes held by vertical metal mullions. The roof springs from a soffit above the glazing. It is made with eight triangular metal plates that meet at the apex. The apex is capped with a vent ball topped with a lightning rod. The lantern is surrounded by an 18-inch wide octagonal gallery made with metal plates. The gallery's perimeter is bounded by a guardrail supported by eight metal stanchions topped with ball finials. The stanchions support a railing made with an upper and lower tier of metal bars. The upper metal rail on the gallery's south side is missing where a solar array is mounted. The lantern's parapet wall and roof, and the lantern gallery floor and railing, are painted black.

This lighthouse includes a basement and five stories. The basement is inside the concrete pier. The deckhouse encloses the first story. The tower contains the second through fourth stories. The lantern is the fifth story.

The basement is accessed by way of a 31-inch wide steel stairway that descends from the first story interior to the basement's central room. This stairway has steel pipe handrails on both sides elevated three feet above the stairs. It includes an upper flight with 15 steps, a rectangular landing below this, and two more steps to the basement floor. The basements walls, floor and ceiling are concrete. The ceiling is 9 feet, 4 inches above the floor. There are three large rooms and one anteroom. The rooms are empty except for three vertical steel pipes, one in each room. These pipes rise from the floor to a height of 7 feet, 4 inches. The one in the central room is 4.5 inches in diameter; the ones in the side rooms are 12 inches in diameter.

The basement's central room is the largest, measuring 20 feet north-south by 44 feet east-west. Four concrete columns supporting the ceiling are positioned at equal intervals and oriented along the centerline of the room's long axis. Two rectangular former window openings in the central room's western wall have been filled with concrete. The eastern wall near the southeast corner includes a former window opening 25 inches wide by 4 feet tall that has been filled with concrete. There is a 10-foot wide by 5-foot deep anteroom formed by concrete walls at the central room's northeastern corner. The anteroom's western wall includes a doorway connecting it with the central room; the door has been removed. The anteroom's eastern wall contains a 4.5-foot wide by 7-foot tall steel doorframe with markings of hinges on either side. This doorway opening has been sealed with concrete. It formerly served as a sea-door providing access between the basement interior and a vessel moored alongside the pier.

The basement's other two rooms flank the central room on the north and south sides. The partition walls between them and the central room are one foot thick. Each of these side rooms measures 44 feet long east-west by 11 feet wide north-south. Both rooms have a 6-foot wide by 8-foot tall doorway opening providing access from the central room. There are no doors.

The deckhouse encloses the octagonal first story room. Its interior measures 19 feet, 4 inches across. The walls, floor and ceiling are concrete. A single 16-inch by 16-inch rectangular concrete column in the center rises 9 feet, 9 inches from the floor to the ceiling. There is a 31-inch wide steel stairway that includes flights leading down to the basement and up to the second story. The stairway leading up has 16 steps and is painted black. It includes pipe handrails on both sides. A rectangular landing near the base accommodates a right-angle bend to the right. There is also a 45-degree bend to the right near the top of the upper flight.

The lighthouse's second story is a single octagonal room at the base of the cast iron tower. It measures 14.5 feet across. The cast iron walls and ceiling are painted white. The floor is concrete. The tower's base is affixed with 2-inch bolts and 3-inch nuts to the floor, which is the deckhouse roof. Bolts and nuts are used as fasteners throughout the tower. A single metal I-beam column rises in the center from the floor to the ceiling, 8.5 feet above. The ceiling is made with bolted metal plates supported by bolted I-beam joists. The second story's fenestration consists of four circular port-lights. They include circular metal frames that are 11.5 inches in diameter, and glass lights that are 8.5 inches in diameter. A 28-inch wide, 10-step curving metal stairway fastened with bolts leads up to the third story. It is painted white except for the treads which are black. This stairway's lowest step and newel rests upon a rectangular concrete platform that rises above the concrete floor. The newel is a section of metal pipe with ball finial.

The third story is an octagonal room 12 feet, 7 inches across. The metal floor is painted black. The walls, ceiling and stairway railing are painted white. The floor is embossed with raised diamond shapes to improve traction. Fenestration consists of four port-lights similar to those on the second story. The metal ceiling is 8 feet, 10 inches above the floor. It is pierced with five round openings for ceiling lights. Each consists of several small hexagonal lights held with metal mullions. The ceiling is supported by a vertical metal beam in the center of the room. A 28-inch wide, 11-step curving metal stairway leads up to the fourth story. It is painted white except for the treads, which are black.

The fourth story is an octagonal room 10 feet, 10 inches across. The metal floor is painted black. The walls, ceiling, and stairway railing are painted white. The floor is embossed with raised diamond shapes to improve traction. The floor is pierced with five lights consisting of small hexagonal glass lights. These are painted white. The room's fenestration consists of four port-lights that are 15 inches in diameter. The metal ceiling is 10 feet, 6 inches above the floor. The ceiling is pierced with three circular lights made with smaller hexagonal lights, similar to those in the floor. The upper part of the room's walls flare outward to support the lantern gallery above. A vertical double-rung steel ladder extends upward to the lantern. It is 21 inches wide, has 11 rungs, and is painted white.

The fifth story is the lighthouse's octagonal lantern room. It is 6.5 feet across. The lantern is accessed by way of the ladder from the fourth story through a 2-foot by 21-inch rectangular opening in the floor. This opening closes with a single-leaf metal trapdoor. The floor is painted black and consists of metal plates embossed with a raised diamond pattern for traction. The lantern gallery floor outside has similar patterning. The lantern room floor is pierced with three 18-inch diameter circular glass lights made with smaller hexagonal glass lights held by metal mullions. The lantern's parapet wall is painted white consists of eight metal plates that are 42 inches tall by 33 inches wide. Four plates are pierced with a circular vent. These vents are spaced at equal intervals, every other plate. One parapet plate is pierced with a 2-foot wide by 21-inch tall two-leaf metal door that is painted black. It provides access to the lantern gallery. The parapet wall supports the lantern's glazing which consists of 3-foot tall by 32-inch wide glass panes held by metal mullions. A soffit above this supports the lantern's octagonal roof which is made with eight triangular metal plates. The ceiling rises to a round vent opening in the center, 9 feet, 4 inches above the floor. The ceiling is painted white.

A 44-inch tall vertical steel pipe stands in the center of the lantern room floor. It is painted red but is rusted. This supports the lantern's optic, a Tideland Signal Corporation, USA, Model ML-300, Series E, Max Lumina marine lantern. It signals a white light that that flashes once every 4 seconds. This optic has a focal plane 52 feet above water level. It is visible for 9 miles in clear weather. The batteries that power the optic are in a box sitting on the lantern room floor to one side.

East Charity Shoal Light has been equipped for remote operation since it was built. Its keepers resided on shore and visited the light at intervals to replenish fuel and maintain the optic and lighting system. This lighthouse is very much the same today as when constructed in 1935. Alterations to its basic structure have been limited. The changes that have been made include closing off the basement's sea-door and three window openings with concrete. The doorway and windows originally pierced the east and west sides of the concrete pier. Another change is the removal of a section of upper handrail on the lantern gallery's south side. This was done to make room for the solar array now mounted there. It recharges the batteries that power the lighthouse's existing modern automated optic.

There have been several changes relating to the lighthouse's aids to navigation, power system, and other equipment, which have been upgraded through time. The original lantern room optic was a fourth order Fresnel lens illuminated with a 1,300 candlepower compressed gas acetylene lamp. It signaled a flashing white light every 4 seconds and was visible for 15 miles. Circa 1960, the light's intensity was increased to 1,500 candlepower. In the late 1960's, a 600 candlepower electric lamp was installed and the light's nominal range became 9 miles. The lantern's fourth order Fresnel lens was removed in 1992. The existing modern Tideland Signal Corporation automated beacon, battery power system and solar array were installed at that time.