Prince's Bay Light

The Prince's Bay Light (officially: John Cardinal O’Connor Light[1]) is an active lighthouse on the highest point of the southern shoreline of Staten Island, New York, in the Pleasant Plains neighborhood. It is situated on an 85-foot (26 m) bluff overlooking Raritan Bay with an attached brownstone cottage which served as the lightkeeper's house. The bluffs are part of the southern terminal moraine formed by the Wisconsin Glacier which receded 10,000 years ago.[2]

Prince's Bay Light
LocationStaten Island, New York
Coordinates40°30′27.7″N 74°12′48.3″W
Year first constructed1828[1]
Year first lit1864[1](Current tower)
Automated2006
Deactivated1922-2006[1]
FoundationRubblestone
ConstructionBrownstone
Tower shapeConical
Focal height107 107 ft (33 m)
(Original tower)
Original lensThird-and-a-half-order Fresnel lens
Current lensVRB-25[1]

History

The current lighthouse was constructed in 1864 for the sum of $30,000 which was approved by Congress. The attached lightkeeper's cottage was completed in 1868.

The Prince's Bay Lighthouse was deactivated in August 1922 after the installation of acetyline lights in Raritan Bay made the former lighthouse obsolete. The Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mt. Loretto, a Catholic orphanage founded by Father John Christopher Drumgoole, purchased the lighthouse, the cottage and an additional outbuilding in 1926.

In 1953, a rear range light was put up on Mt. Loretto, southeast of the lighthouse. The United States government paid $32 per year to lease the small parcel of land from the mission.[3]

The lighthouse, the bluffs and 145 acres (59 ha) of surrounding upland and 49 underwater acres (20 ha) were purchased in 1999 from the Archdiocese of New York by New York State and the Trust for Public Land. The area, now known as the Mount Loretto Unique Area, is open to the public and maintained by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The lighthouse cottage currently serves as the residence for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Ranger Police Officer. The tower received a VRB-25 optical system which was placed on top of the lighthouse in 2006.[1]

References
  1. "Princes Bay, NY". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  2. Benimoff, Alan I. (October 4, 2012). "The Geology of Staten Island". Geology at CSI. College of Staten Island. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  3. Northeast Lights: Lighthouses & Lightships, Rhode Island to Cape May, New Jersey by Robert G. BachandPublisher: Sea Sports Pubns (September 1993) Language: English ISBN 0-9616399-4-6
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