Saybrook Breakwater Light

Saybrook Breakwater Light stands offshore at Fenwick Point near Old Saybrook, marking the entrance where the Connecticut River meets Long Island Sound. Built after the breakwater was completed in the 1870s, it worked with Lynde Point Light to guide vessels into the channel. Designed by Francis Hopkinson Smith, the sparkplug-style lighthouse used local brownstone and originally displayed a fourth-order Fresnel lens with red flashes every twenty seconds. Fully automated in 1959, it remains an active navigational aid. Long a local emblem, it also gained wider fame through its appearance on Land O’Lakes packaging and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Fenwick, Connecticut · United States