Essex Reef Light on the Connecticut River at Essex, Connecticut, began service in 1889 as a small lighthouse marking Essex Reef and has continued in use as a navigational aid even after its original structure disappeared. The first beacon was a 21-foot wooden tower on a stone-filled timber crib built on the river bottom, first showing a fixed red light and later a fixed white one. By 1919 it had been replaced by a skeleton tower, later converted to an automatic gas beacon. The light is closely tied to longtime keeper Gilbert Burnett "Bernie" Hayden, who tended it for 30 years, and the site remained active into 2014.