Tarrytown Light

The various Native American peoples who lived along its banks used the river European settlers would later name after Henry Hudson, the first of them to explore it, for commerce and trade. They were aware of the navigational hazards it offered their canoes, and built bonfires on the shores nearest tricky currents and hidden shallows.[8] Colonists followed them as first sailing ships, then steamships, carried goods and passengers between New York City and the upper limit of navigable waters at Troy. Commerce sharply increased in the 1820s with the development of the Erie and Delaware and Hudson canals. The former connected the East Coast with the recently settled Midwest; the latter brought anthracite coal from Northeastern Pennsylvania to New York City. The development of the railroad in the mid-19th century took much, but not all, of this traffic, and river shipping continues today.[9]

To assist the ships, 14 lighthouses were built at various navigational hazards along the river.[8] Six of them besides Tarrytown remain, from Peter's Hook in Manhattan to Hudson–Athens south of Albany, between those two communities. The shoals a half-mile (1 km) off Tarrytown and Ossining (then known as Sing Sing) on the east bank of the river at the southern end of Haverstraw Bay were particularly dangerous as mariners preferred to use that side.[10] In 1847 a location for a light was identified at Teller's Point, the southern tip of Croton Point just north of Ossining, at the north end of the shoal. That land was then used as a vineyard[11] and its owner asked a higher price than the government was willing to pay. The following year Congress appropriated $4,000 ($135,000 in modern dollars[12]) to acquire a different site near Tarrytown, at the end of Tarrytown Point, the peninsula created by the outflow of sediment from the Pocantico River. Steamboat captains consulted by the government suggested that the light should instead be located at Beekman's Point, two miles (3.2 km) away. Its owner likewise asked $3,000, which would not have left enough money to build the actual lighthouse.[13]

Jacob Ackerman

A red spar buoy marked the downriver end of the shoals[10] in the meantime. Eventually, the current site, then offshore, was chosen. Construction began in 1882 at a cost of almost $21,000 ($637,000 in modern dollars[12]).[14] Stones were piled on the shoal as part of its foundation and a boat dock was built. The prefabricated[6] sections of the 60-foot-tall (18 m) sparkplug lighthouse arrived on a barge; the structure was assembled using anchored boats and scaffolding.[11] It would be the only one in Westchester County, the only conical steel structure of the seven to have living quarters and the only one on the lower Hudson that could house a keeper and his family.[5] Its original white lantern, with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, could reportedly be seen up to 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) away.[15]

In 1883 it was formally lit.[2] It was technically within the municipal boundaries of North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow) but has been known as Tarrytown Light on navigational charts since its construction. Jacob Ackerman, a retired schooner captain who had become president (mayor) of North Tarrytown, was the first of ten keepers.[6] He served in the position until his retirement in 1904, saving 19 lives during that time.[16] In 1894, 11 years after it was lit, its lantern was changed from white to red. Over time it became a local landmark. "The Tarrytown Lighthouse is a familiar sight to the landsman, and its kindly warning rays are always welcomed by mariners", wrote local journalist Isaac De Goff in a 1902 guide to the area.[17]

Early 20th-century postcard of lighthouse and shore

In 1902 the lantern was changed again from solid red to flashing.[6] Apart from routine reinforcement to the riprap and replacement of the dock no changes were made to the lighthouse building itself until the 1940s, when modern sanitary facilities were added. In 1947, an electrical connection was installed, eliminating the need for the kerosene lamps that had provided routine illumination within the lighthouse. During the next decade, the original coal-fired steam heating system was replaced with modern forced air, and the sanitary facilities were further upgraded.[5]

Around that time the Tappan Zee Bridge was built and opened to traffic. One of its piers, with its own set of navigational lights, sat on the shoals which the lighthouse had been designed to warn against, channeling shipping away from them. The Coast Guard responded by automating the light and reducing the flashing red lantern from 7000 candlepower to 1500 in 1957.[2] The need for the lighthouse was further reduced two years later when the federal government declared all but the hundred feet (30 m) of river bottom around the lighthouse to be surplus property, so that General Motors (GM) could fill in the area between it and the shore in order to expand its Tarrytown Truck Assembly plant, a facility that incorporated the original Stanley Steamer factory built east of the railroad tracks in 1896. Two years later, in 1961, the light was decommissioned.[5]

Tarrytown Light, 1997

The lighthouse remained. In 1974, the county obtained an easement from GM to build a footpath from nearby Kingsland Point Park to the lighthouse. The following year it built the path, and a small bridge, allowing the public to walk from the park to the lighthouse. The county also acquired the lighthouse itself, a purchase that was disputed by the Coast Guard at the time of its listing on the National Register.[5] Occasionally tours of the building are offered.[2][11] On June 10, 2015, the lighthouse was re-lighted in a civic ceremony after being re-fitted with a new replica Fresnel lens.[18]

William Osbourne Sininger 1939-1941 US Coast Guard