Barnegat Lighthouse

Barnegat Lighthouse, or Old Barney, stands at the northern tip of Long Beach Island beside the hazardous Barnegat Inlet, where currents and shoreline changes long challenged navigation. The first lighthouse, commissioned in 1835, proved too small and too close to an eroding shore, and it collapsed into the water in 1857. Its replacement, designed by Lt. George G. Meade and commissioned in 1859, rose 163 feet and used a powerful first-order flashing Fresnel lens. Later automated and deactivated in 1944, it became part of a state park, reopened to visitors in 1991, and regained an active beacon in 2009.

Barnegat Light, New Jersey · United States