Stepping Stones Light Station, Kings Point New York

Date added: August 06, 2024

Categories:
New York
Lighthouse

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Stepping Stones Light Station, first lit in 1877, was constructed through the efforts of the federal government to provide an integrated system of navigational aids and to provide for safe maritime transport in and around the port of New York. The Second Empire-style brick house and tower are constructed on a granite pier that rests on the outer edge of a rocky reef at the western end of Long Island Sound. The Second Empire style was employed in the design of approximately two dozen lighthouses north of the Chesapeake Bay, with the majority built during the 1870s. The same design was used three years earlier in the construction of the Hudson-Athens Light Station, along the Hudson River upriver from New York City.

Stepping Stones was one of the last offshore lighthouses in the upper Mid-Atlantic region to be built of brick and stone. It was also one of the last light stations to separate the lighthouse optic from the station's domestic functions, although the house and tower were connected. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the form and materials employed in the construction of offshore lighthouses changed dramatically. In place of masonry, most light stations constructed circa 1880 to 1920 were built using prefabricated iron plates, although at least three in the Chesapeake Bay area were constructed of brick. With the new construction methods, cylindrical iron-plate piers, referred to as "caissons," were sunk on bottomlands where they were then filled with concrete and stone. A tower was then placed on atop the caisson. These towers contained both the optic and the keepers' dwelling.

Stepping Stones continues to operate as a federal aid to navigation today.

The Stepping Stones are a series of rocks that form a reef near the western end of Long Island Sound. The reef is next to the main shipping channel and is a hazard to navigation. It has been marked to warn mariners since at least the early nineteenth century, when a spear was stuck into one of the rocks to show its position. A black spar buoy was later placed to mark its offshore end, in 18 feet of water at low tide.

In April 1866, Congress appropriated $6,600 for the construction of a lighthouse in western Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Hart Island, which is 1.5 miles north of the Stepping Stones. Six years later, in June 1872, Congress again appropriated money for lighthouse construction near the tip of Hart Island. This amount was later increased to $50,000, and the proposed station was referred to as both a light and fog signal station. A third appropriation was made in June 1874 in the amount of $6,000. At this time it was stated that the funds would be used for the construction of a day beacon on Stepping Stones and for the construction of a lighthouse anywhere in the Hart Island vicinity that the Lighthouse Board selected.

The Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board for 1874 stated that no patent to the site on Hatt Island could be granted to the United States by the state of New York. Thus, the site of the lighthouse was changed to an offshore one near the Stepping Stones. Cessation of jurisdiction of the site was obtained from New York, and Congress authorized the change in location. The report concluded "… the erection of this much-needed aid to navigation will be commenced at an early date."

Annual reports from 1875 and 1876 mention the ongoing construction of the lighthouse at the Stepping Stones. Due to the sheltered location of the site, work continued through December 1875, restarted in May 1876, and then continued to December 1876. The structure was built of brick and was one-and-one-half stories tall. It included a Second Empire-style dwelling with kitchen, dining room and sitting room on the first floor and four bedrooms above. Attached to the northwest side of the house was a tower that contained the stairway to the second floor and the light tower's lantern. The basement of the house was in the interior of the structure's granite foundation pier, and contained the cistern and coal bin. The station was equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed red light that was visible for 8.5 miles at 45.5 feet above sea level. The fog signal employed was a bell that was struck by machinery. The signal consisted of a double blow every twenty seconds during thick weather. The light was first exhibited on 1^st March 1877, more than ten years after Congress had proposed building a lighthouse in the vicinity.

One keeper and one assistant keeper were assigned to Stepping Stones. The first keeper was Finlay Fraser. He was paid an annual salary of $600 and stayed on over two years before resigning in September of 1879. He was replaced by the assistant keeper, James G. Scott, who stayed on for less than a year. When Scott became keeper, the assistant keeper position was abolished. Keepers assigned to Stepping Stones through 1912 included William McGloin of Ireland (June 1880 to November 1886), and Cornelius Douglass (November 1886 to September 1895). In May 1890, the keeper's salary was increased in lieu of receiving rations from the Lighthouse Depot at Tompkinsville on Staten Island. Elmer E. Gildersleeve was keeper from September 1895 to December 1902, followed by Charles Redfern (December 1902 to April 1910), and Ernest Bloom, who was keeper at the time the 1912 list was published.

During the late nineteenth century, a white horizontal strip was painted on the southern side of the light station's pier. This was used as a datum mark for range-finding during artillery practice at nearby Forts Schuyler and Totten. Several other light stations in the vicinity, such as West Bank and Robbins Reef, were also painted with similar datum marks. The mark on the pier at Stepping Stones is still visible.

By 1926, the Lighthouse Service had determined that a stronger and more distinctive optic was needed at the Stepping Stones Light Station. At that time, the Lighthouse Service was in the process of eliminating port hand red lights. The Office of the Superintendent of Lighthouses, Third District, proposed changing the light signal at Stepping Stones from a fixed red to a fixed green. Owing to the number of white lights in the background, a white light that was either fixed or flashing would not be as distinctly visible as a green light. In addition, the light's brightness was increased to 500 candlepower by removing the fifth-order lens and wick lamp arrangement and replacing it with a larger fourth-order lens with a 35mm incandescent oil vapor (1.0.V.) lamp.

In 1933, the Third District proposed installing a new heating system consisting of a boiler and radiators. The installation of an indoor toilet closet was also proposed. Until this time, the house at Stepping Stones had been heated by "expensive and inefficient" stoves, and the toilet was outside on the pier. As early as 1910 there was a discussion of creating an indoor water closet with the stated reason being that using the facilities was an embarrassment to the keeper and his family because the waters surrounding the station were popular with fishing boats, especially on weekends. In denying the request, it was stated that an indoor toilet had been originally placed in the basement of the structure. However, due to the strong odor, it was removed and its pipe hole closed up. It was suggested that alternatives be considered, such as carrying the boards of the outdoor closet down to the water line or providing a tub or hopper that could be removed and emptied at a less conspicuous time.

The new heating system consisted of a hot water system with a boiler installed in the dining room, with its hot water circulation pump in the basement. Radiators were installed in the four bedrooms and in the sitting room on the first floor. The indoor toilet was created by enlarging the closet in the oil room and constructing a door from the main hallway. A tank located in an upstairs bedroom directly above the toilet provided its water.

The Stepping Stones Light Station log books record several instances when the surrounding waters froze over, permitting the keeper and his family to walk to shore on Long Island. The early months of 1934 were especially harsh. In March of that year, a Mexican petroleum steamer bound for New York reported seeing the flag at the lighthouse flying upside down, a signal of distress. Due to the late ice, the keeper and his family were running short of food. This news was received at Lighthouse Depot on Staten Island later that day, and the lighthouse tender Hickory was dispatched with food supplies.

The Lighthouse Service was abolished as a separate federal agency in 1939, and its duties were subsumed by the U.S. Coast Guard. In the following years, the light station underwent a series of changes. An internal Coast Guard memo indicates that Stepping Stones was modernized in the early 1950s. This work included new radiators and electrical outlets in the house. A modern bathroom was also installed in the smallest of the four second-floor rooms. The Stepping Stones Light Station was automated in 1964. At that time its optic was a 1,700 candlepower electric light exhibiting a flashing green signal. Automatic operation ended the need for resident keepers, resulting in an annual savings of approximately $10,000. The light today remains an active aid to navigation. It exhibits an occulting green light every four seconds, visible for 8 miles with a focal plane 46 feet above mean low water. It continues to fulfill its original role marking the offshore end of a dangerous rocky reef.

The Port of New York and Aids to Navigation

The early part of the nineteenth century marked the rise of the port of New York, and, to a lesser degree, ports in nearby northern New Jersey. Virtually landlocked, the port of New York provided a safe natural harbor for vessels. Due to its geographic location, the port was ideally situated to take advantage of transatlantic, coastal and inland trade. New Jersey ports adjacent to the New York bays, such as Newark and Perth Amboy, also presented opportunities for maritime trade. Perth Amboy was especially well situated because it was located three miles closer to the open sea than New York City. New Jersey ports initially offered incentives to shipping such as evasion of New York's customs, quarantine, and immigration regulations.

The port of New York could be reached through several entrances, including channels from the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, Hudson River, and the Raritan River. Prior to the completion of the Ambrose Channel circa 1909, maritime traffic from the Atlantic would generally enter via the Gedney Channel, located south of Sandy Hook. Once within Lower New York Bay, vessels would either continue westward into Raritan Bay to Perth Amboy or turn north and follow the Main Ship Channel to the Narrows between Staten Island and the western end of Long Island. Though the Narrows is only two miles long and at one place only 0.75 mile wide, more than one-third of the world's late nineteenth century maritime commerce passed through it.

Until the early twentieth century, the East River (a tidal strait rather than a river) was the principal scene of shipping business at the port of New York. However, the Hudson River, with its broader and less turbulent waters, provided a better berthing place for ocean-going steamers and eventually became the main docking place for maritime traffic in the area.

Vessels entering the port of New York from ports in New England generally arrived by way of Long Island Sound and the Upper East River. The waters of Long Island Sound were generally more sheltered than the open Atlantic, though it could become quite rough in bad weather. The Sound also afforded a "back door" to the port of New York when weather conditions made it difficult for vessels to enter by way of Sandy Hook.

Although the port of New York was endowed with an abundance of natural features, it was further improved through human ingenuity. In the early 1760s, New York conducted a lottery to raise funds for a light station at Sandy Hook. The tall, masonry lighthouse built there as a result was completed in 1764 and remains the oldest extant lighthouse in the United States. More lights were added after the creation of a lighthouse establishment by the United States' federal government. For the most part, these lights were land-based, masonry towers. With advances in engineering, lighthouses began to be built offshore directly on or nearby such hazards to navigation as shoals and rocks. The first offshore lighthouse in the water surrounding the port of New York was Robbins Reef, constructed in 1839 on a granite block pier set atop a rocky ledge in Upper New York Bay. By the mid-1870s, the Lighthouse Board was constructing offshore light stations atop cast iron cylindrical caissons set into the seabed. One example of this is Great Beds Light Station in Raritan Bay.

In 1922, the Lighthouse Service reported that the port of New York and its immediate waters (containing roughly 200 nautical miles of shoreline and about 170 square miles of water area) were marked by 387 aids to navigation. These aids included lighthouses, lighted beacons, lightships, and unlighted beacons and buoys. This was an increase of nearly eighty percent from 1905 when nautical charts showed only 217 aids.

Site Description

Stepping Stones Light Station was completed in 1877. It is a one-and-one-half story, Second Empire-style house with a three-story square tower, topped by an octagonal lantern. The integral tower is centered on the front facade of the building on the northwest side. The structure sits on a circular granite pier that is surrounded by rock riprap. The station is located in approximately 11 feet of water on the outer edge of a rocky reef at the western end of Long Island Sound. Owned by the U.S. Coast Guard, Stepping Stones Light Station is under the jurisdiction of the Third Coast Guard District. The only access to the station is by boat.

Access to the structure is by a metal ladder attached to the side of the granite pier. The ladder extends from below the waterline to the top of the pier. The house and tower are located in the center of the pier on a partially raised basement. The pier is constructed of rusticated stone blocks that are painted a reddish-brown. A concrete deck encircles the structure. The deck currently is enclosed by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.

The walls of the house and the tower are composed of brick and feature rusticated stone quoins at the corners of the house. A mansard roof with a pyramidal top sits on top of the house. Both portions of the roof are covered in composition shingles. There is a wood cornice painted white between the top of the walls and the mansard roof. A narrow cornice lines the top of the mansard roof and the pyramidal top.

Fenestration on the first floor consists of two windows on each side, except the southeast face, which only has one. The tower has three windows, all located on the northwest face. All the windows feature projecting rusticated stone sills and bracketed lintels, all painted white. All of the window openings have been either filled with brick or covered with sheet metal or plywood boards. Several contain aluminum vents to provide air circulation in the house and tower. All openings, with the exception of the upper two tower windows, are painted so that from a distance there is the illusion that windows are still present.

There are two entrances to the building. The first is on the southeast face and leads directly into the kitchen. The doorframe and door are modern metal ones. The second entrance is on the northeast face of the tower and contains modern metal double doors. This entrance provides access to both the tower stairs and the first-floor central hallway. Both entrances are accessed from a set of stone steps and are topped by lintels similar in material and style to those of the windows.

As noted earlier, the tower rises a full story higher than the house. Above the tower is the lantern gallery, which extends out over the walls of the tower. A decorative metal railing encloses the lantern gallery. The railing consists of square stanchions topped by metal ball finials, horizontal pipe railing, flat bar railing, and balusters that connect the horizontal bars. The railing is painted black. Solar panels are mounted on the southeast side of the gallery directly on the railing and provide power to the light signal. At the center of the deck is a cast iron and glass octagonal lantern. At the apex of the roof is a ball vent and lightning rod.

On the northwest wall of the tower, above the first-floor window, is a stone plaque in which the construction date of the lighthouse ("1876") is carved. In addition, this wall contains the decorative cast-iron support brackets for the bell that was formerly used as the station's fog signal. The brackets are on both sides of the uppermost tower window.

A short flight of wood stairs located through a door in the kitchen leads to the basement. While the entire basement of the building is excavated, the southern section is completely enclosed by brick walls. This space originally served as the station's cistern and held up to 3,000 gallons of water. The basement walls are brick and have been plastered over and painted (the plaster has been removed from the northeast wall). The floor is concrete. The space under the tower is accessed via a wooden door on which is stenciled the words, "PAINT LOCKER." A series of holes have been drilled in the door, presumably to vent the room. Wood shelving has been constructed inside. A total of seven eyebrow windows are set into the tops of the basement walls and are either boarded or bricked up. Two of the windows retain their casement and glass.

Pipes, wires, and insulation are visible throughout the basement. A large crack runs across the floor and up the walls at the northern corner

The ground floor contains four rooms and a central hall. The rooms at the back of the house are labeled in the U.S. Coast Guard's 1950 proposed modernization floor plan as the kitchen and the living room. These rooms have been completely modernized with drop acoustical tile ceilings, fluorescent lighting, gypsum wallboard, tile floors, and metal doors and door frames. Both rooms have gray metal electrical boxes and conduit with the wiring for light switches, outlets, and lighting fixtures. The kitchen contains modern equipment related to the operation of the light and fog signal. Other features of the kitchen include the exterior doorway to the gallery/landing area and the doorway to the basement. The room originally contained a closet (or pantry) adjacent to the basement stairs as well as a window on the southwest wall. The only evidence of the window in the kitchen is a square metal grate set into the wallboard.

An interior wall separates the kitchen from the dining room. A door allows for movement between the two rooms. The living room originally contained two windows, one on the northeast wall and one on the southeast wall. The windows are now obscured behind the wallboard. Square metal grates are set into the wallboard at the location of the windows to provide ventilation. The living room originally contained a closet in the northeast corner of the room. The closet is now covered by wallboard.

A doorway from the living room provides access to the central hall. Immediately to the right of the doorway is the entrance to a closet. Further along the hallway are entrances to the battery room (on the left in front of the kitchen), to the shop (on the right in front of the living room), and closets. The hallway continues into the tower. Within the tower and under the stairs to the left is another storage closet. Doors to the exterior are set into the tower wall to the right and are covered with plywood boards. The staircase begins at the front wall of the tower.

The hallway floor is covered in tiles, many of which are chipped, cracked, or loose. The lathe and plaster on the wall are missing, and the studs are exposed. The ceiling retains its lathe, but all of the plaster is gone. The hallway closet is also stripped of all plaster and some of its lathe.

The walls of the shop are covered in beaded board up to the chair rail. Above the chair rail is the exposed brick of the exterior walls. The shop contains two windows, one on the front (northwest) wall and one on the side (northeast) wall. Parts of the original frames and sashes are still extant as is some of the glass. Mounted in the center of the front window are instructions for the "Operational Test of the Fog Signal." On the lower portion of the northeast wall is a metal frame containing instructions for operating the radio equipment. The plaster has been removed from the ceiling, and the lathe is visible.

The battery room contains a wooden workbench along the front (northwest) wall. The wooden floors have been covered with a modern material as has the ceiling. The walls appear to be the original plaster over lathe and exhibit peeling paint. The wood doorframe and baseboard are still extant as are the window frames, although the openings are covered. The southwest window is covered with plywood and vented at the top by a metal grate. The northeast window is covered with wallboard.

Both of the front rooms as well as the hallway have modern electrical conduits, light sockets, and other related electrical equipment.

The four rooms and hallway on the second floor generally mirror those of the lower floor. As one moves from the stairway landing to the back of the house, a doorway to the bathroom is located on the left, while a doorway to an office/bedroom is directly opposite on the right. Further down the hallway, on the night, is the entrance to a bedroom. Directly ahead in a wall running diagonally across the hallway is the entrance to another bedroom. There are no longer any walls on this floor. Only the studs remain to show where the lathe was nailed. Parts of the ceiling are still covered in lathe. However, all of the plaster is gone. Fluorescent lighting fixtures hang from the ceiling. The window openings are covered with pieces of plywood and no longer contain sashes or frames.

Access to the dwelling's upper floor and the lantern is by a staircase contained within the brick tower. The stairs begin at the front wall of the tower and proceed in a counter-clockwise direction. The stairs are attached to the walls of the tower and to an octagonal central column. A metal pipe handrail is attached to the column. A window at the front of the tower originally provided natural light to the first level. The frame, sashes and most of the glass remain. However, the window opening is filled with brick on the outside. Three-quarters of the way up the stairs (approximately 12 steps) is a square landing, which provides access to the second floor hallway by a flight of two steps. Approximately three steps from the second floor landing at the front of the tower is another window. It is filled with brick on the outside, and only the frame remains on the inside. Approximately four steps up from the window, there is an original doorway and a four-paneled door with hardware. The door is set diagonally from the southern corner of the tower to the center column, with the door opening out into the stairwell. This area served as the station's watch room. At this level, the back wall of the tower juts out in a semi-circle. There is a closet on one side of the landing at the front of the tower. This closet is accessed via an original four-panel door with hardware. Its interior is lined in beaded board. Shelving of various sizes and shapes is built into the closet, and the window at this level is partially within it. The other half of the window is visible from the landing. Like the other window openings in the tower, this one has been filled with brick on the outside. Although the window frame exists, the original double-hung sash has been removed.

There is a decorative cast-iron staircase that wraps around a metal post within the semi-circle at the back of the tower. A metal pipe handrail is attached to the beaded board paneled wall. This staircase provides access to the lantern.

The lantern is an eight-sided structure composed of metal parapet panels lined with wood slats at the bottom and glass panes above. The floor is wood on top of cast-iron plates. The roof is composed of eight triangular metal plates with a round vent cut into the apex where the tips of the plates meet. The vent is missing its cover. There are also two vents in the lantern's parapet panels. Both vents retain their covers. The lantern contains a green, 300mm optic on a modern pedestal. Access to the lantern gallery is through a hatch door on one side of the lantern. There is both an exterior door and an interior door to the opening. The interior door is no longer attached to the parapet wall but is present in the room.

Changes over Time

Stepping Stones Light Station was modernized in the early 1950s to accommodate the Coast Guardsmen then living at the station. No longer were four bedrooms needed as in earlier days when a lightkeeper and his family occupied the dwelling. Thus one of the smaller upstairs bedrooms was converted to a bathroom. In addition, room functions on the lower level were changed slightly. The room identified above as the living room is likely to have previously been a formal dining room, with a sitting room at the front of the dwelling by the tower. With the 1950's modernization, the dining room became a living room for the men stationed at Stepping Stones. The sitting room as well as the area where the fog signal equipment was housed both became a work space. The installation of an indoor flush toilet eliminated the need for the station's outdoor toilet, which overhung the southern side of the pier.

One of the most noticeable exterior changes to the original station is the modification of the roof and its features. Six arched dormer windows have been removed from the mansard roof. At one time, these dormer windows projected from the mansard roof on three sides of the dwelling. The decorative wood surrounds of the windows featured scrollwork at the base and were painted white. In addition, the original slate tiles on the mansard roof have been replaced with man-made shingles. As mentioned earlier, none of the window openings on the first floor of the dwelling or of the tower contain their original sash, and the two entrances are missing their original wood doors.

The station's day mark has changed slightly over time as well. When the station was established the lantern and lantern gallery floor were painted black. Photographs in the collection of the U.S. Coast Guard Historian's office shows that as late as 1963 the floor remained black. Today the lantern and floor are both painted white.

There also has been a change to the lantern glazing. For many years the eight-sided lantern contained just seven glass window panes. The eighth side was an opening at the back of the lantern (facing southeast) that was filled with a metal plate instead. Blocking that part of the lantern allowed for better control of the directions from where the light could be seen. Today all eight openings contain glass plates.

Early photographs also show metal tanks sitting on the pier deck. These are no longer present. The existing pier railing includes steel fencing and barbed wire of recent construction. The pier's original railing (no longer present) was identical to the one that still exists at the top of the tower.