Greens Ledge Lighthouse
Fl WR 12s🇺🇸Connecticut, USOperational
Location & Light Range
About Greens Ledge Lighthouse
Completed in 1902, this concrete lighthouse stands 52 meters tall with a focal height of 19 meters. Its red and white striped, round tower is a distinctive sight in the western Long Island Sound. The light emits an alternating flashing white pattern, visible for 14 nautical miles. The structure is one of the few remaining sparkplug lighthouses in the United States. Additional riprap, sourced from the excavation of Radio City Music Hall, was added to its foundation in 1933.
Why it matters: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Greens Ledge Lighthouse serves as an active aid to navigation in western Long Island Sound.
Background
Greens Ledge Lighthouse (also known as Greens Ledge Light, or Rowayton Lighthouse) is a historic offshore lighthouse in the western Long Island Sound near Norwalk, Connecticut and Darien, Connecticut. It is one of 33 sparkplug lighthouses still in existence in the United States and remains an active aid to navigation. It sits in ten feet of water on the west end of Greens Ledge, a shallow underwater reef that runs a mile west of Sheffield Island and is roughly a mile south of the entrance to Five Mile River at Rowayton. Completed in 1902 by the Philadelphia Construction Company, the cast-iron structure is approximately 90 feet tall including roughly 15 feet of the submerged caisson. In 1933, more than 30,000 tons of rocks from the excavation of Radio City Music Hall were added to the riprap foundation. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Greens Ledge Lighthouse on May 29, 1990.
In 2017, Greens Ledge was acquired from the US Government by the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established by a group of local residents with the mission of restoring and preserving the lighthouse. The acquisition was made through a founding donation by The Pettee Family and restoration began in June 2018 to address the critical structural deficiencies of the lighthouse.Light & Optic
Characteristic Signature
Fl WR 12s
- Flash Type
- Flashing
- Light Color
- WR
- Flash Count
- 1 flash
- Interval
- 12s
- Raw Code
- Al.Fl
- Focal Height
- 19m
- Geographic Range
- 14NM
Construction & History
- Year Built
- 1902
- Heritage Status
- National Register of Historic Places listed place
References & Identifiers
- Admiralty No.
- J0866
- USCG No.
- 1-21340
- ARLHS No.
- USA-355
- Wikipedia
- Read on Wikipedia →
- Wikidata
- Q5604423 →
- OpenStreetMap
- View on OSM →
Tower & Structure
- Tower Height
- 52m
- Tower Shape
- round
- Tower Color
- red;white
- Material
- concrete
Location
- City
- Connecticut
- Country
- 🇺🇸US
- Latitude
- 41.0416°
- Longitude
- -73.4439°
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