Lighthouse History / Absecon Lighthouse Facts

The waters off Absecon Inlet were among the most dangerous on the East Coast, and between 1847 and 1856 at least sixty-four ocean-going ships were lost off Absecon Beach. Dr. Jonathan Pitney, an advocate for the development of Atlantic City, had urged the federal government since the 1830’s to build a lighthouse, and after Absecon Lighthouse was first lit on January 15, 1857, not a single ship was wrecked in its first ten months of operation. Built from 1855 to 1857 about 1200 feet from the ocean, the lighthouse originally stood amid sand, seagulls, salt air, and tides, but wave erosion brought water to the corner of the property by 1876 before jetties reversed the process and later homes and hotels separated it from the sea. It also became a tourist attraction for Atlantic City, with visitors flocking there and its image appearing on postcards, plates, glasses, and other seaside souvenirs. The double-walled conical brick-and-mortar tower, built on a stone foundation with a timber platform, rises 171 feet with a focal plane of 167 feet, tapers from 27 feet at the bottom to 14 feet 9 inches at the watch level, and has 228 steps to the watch level and 240 to the lantern room. Its daymark is yellow with a black band, its original lighting was a first-order Fresnel lens with Funck’s mineral oil lamps, its present lighting is the original first-order Fresnel lens with an electric lamp, its beacon is fixed with a range of 19.5 nautical miles, and it was decommissioned and extinguished on July 11, 1933, before being relit on October 3, 1999.

Atlantic City, New Jersey · United States