A Guiding Light

The physicist Wilhelm Röntgen announced his discovery of x-rays. Following Mormon abandonment of sanctioned polygamy, Utah is admitted as the 45th US state. The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield. The First modern Summer Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece. The Dow Jones Industrial Average begins with an average of 12 industrial stocks. Henry Ford drove his first automobile around Detroit. Spring Lake started a fire department. They are going to need it.

Sea Girt had a 4th order Fresnel lens, which used prisms to concentrate the light

The Sea Girt Lighthouse was lit for the first time on December 10, 1896. At just 44 feet high, its Fresnel lens could be seen 15 miles out to sea. It was a revolutionary lens, designed by Frenchman Augustin-Jean Fresnel. It overtook the industry and by 1850 almost all lighthouses had adopted the multiprism design. Fresnel would not live to see the popularity of his invention as he died of TB in 1829.

The Sea Girt Light was a midway light between Highlands and Long Beach Island. The appropriation for the light came in 1888. First proposed on Sea Girt land near Manasquan, it took 8 years for the government to purchase the plot closer to the Inlet.

The lantern’s flame needed continual attention, with fuel checks and wick trimming. A large weight was attached to a cable that wound around a drum in the clockwork mechanism. There was a shaft along the tower staircase for the weight to travel up and down in a channel, using pulleys. The lens could then rotate to create a timed flash, 10 red flashes per minute. Every light has a unique signal. The brick structure was good, and easily identifiable as not the distinctive Old Barney to the South or Twin Lights to the north. The roof was poorly built and the house took on water after the first nor’easters.

Maj. Abraham Wolf, a Civil War hero was the first keeper. This was the last integrated residential light built on the Atlantic coast, and the assignment was considered good duty. Moving from the 233 steps of Absecon light in Atlantic City to the 42 steps to the lantern would have been easier for the old man (he was in his 60s when he got the assignment), and the attached residence meant no trips outside in the elements.

Lighthouse service portrait of Maj. Wolf

Major Wolf entertained in the home and became part of the social fabric of the Sea Girt community. Navy Captain and future Admiral George C. Reiter visited with his son George Jr, also in the Navy. Reiter would retire from 44 years of active duty in 1907 after guiding the Pacific Fleet to victory in the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. Wolf married and in 1902 built the house next door, as his wife did not like the drafty lighthouse.

Photo likely from around 1930. Sea Girt Lighthouse Website

The 1920s brought a radio beacon to the site, and ships near the coast could triangulate radio waves to pinpoint its positions more accurately. Erosion, as the Wreck Pond inlet moved south, threatened the house and the government built a steel bulkead behind the house

The light would remain in service until World War II when it became a dormitory for the Coast Guard. After the war, it was de-commissioned and the town bought it for $11,000. The lens disappeared with the de-commission. The lighthouse was used as a community center, library and meeting place. In 1981 facing serious renovation a group of concerned citizens saved the lighthouse as a museum. They restored the building and the Sea Girt Lighthouse Citizen’s Committee throws a celebration each summer to commemorate the deed signing.

The full history of the light can be found in Bill Dunn’s book, Sea Girt Lighthouse The Community Beacon. You can visit the lighthouse on Sundays from 2-4 in season and a docent can give you the history of the house, and the efforts to restore the building and purchase a replacement lens for display. The Lighthouse has a website: seagirtlighthouse.com and an Instagram page. Each fall visitors participate in the Lifeguard challenge to see how many of NJ’s lights can be visited in a day.