Esopus Meadows Lighthouse - Article from Poughkeepsie Journal
Posted by admin on Wednesday, December 13
Filed under: Lighthouse News
Reprinted from Poughkeepsie Journal.com
In 1838, for the sum of one dollar, land was ceded to the U.S. Government by the Town of Esopus to erect a Lighthouse.
The location was Mid-Hudson and the purpose was to warn mariners of the mud flats to the west - Esopus Meadows. $6000 was appropriated and it was equipped with four lamps and reflectors. The light first shown in 1839.
It was originally a twin to the Rondout II Lighthouse. Battered by the elements of flood tides and ice, in 1867 the site was described in ruinous condition. Funds for a new structure were made available in 1870. The foundation was to consist of 250 piles, 40 feet long driven down solid into the river bed and cut off 3 feet below the water mark. The piles were capped with timbers 12 inches square, planked with 3 inch pine making a round pier 49 feet at the base and 46 feet at the top. It was completed in 1871 (1). The keeper’s dwelling on the piles of rockfaced granite was to be wood-framed with a mansard roof. Its’ seven rooms consisted of kitchen, dining and sitting rooms on the first floor, and bedrooms on the second floor.
Surrounded by an octagonal deck, the tower and lantern room extended on the southeast facade 52 feet above mean lowwater. It is the only Hudson River Lighthouse built with a wood frame and clapboard exterior.
Accessible only by water, it was a family station and always had a keeper in residence. When the Coast Guard acquired the Lighthouse Service in 1939, keepers were replaced by Coast Guard personnel. It was closed in 1965 and the utomated navigational aid is now on a pole outside the building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on; May 29th, 1979. It has been nicknamed “Maid of the Meadows”. The Save Esopus Lighthouse Commission was formed in the; summer of 1990 for the purpose of restoring and preserving this maritime treasure.
Esopus Meadows Lighthouse
The U.S. Coast Guard is leasing the Lighthouse to our group. The grants we received from the Hudson River Improvement Fund, Greenway Heritage Conservancy, and the Dept. of Interior enabled the group to complete the required structural engineering, architectural surveys and specifications. In addition, emergency repairs, extensive carpentry and shingling of the mansard roof were done mostly by restoration specialist Reid Bielenberg.
Volunteers have been, and remain a vital element to the project. Private contributions are essential also.
On May 31, 2003, the lighthouse was turned on for the first time in 38 years. The commission hopes to fully restore the lighthouse, the interior of which still needs much work, and open it to the public.
Footnotes: 1) The Old Lighthouses of the Hudson River by Ruth R. Glunt says 1872. Roger Mabie says 1871.
Reprinted from Poughkeepsie Journal.com