Navesink Lighthouse

New Jersey has nine classic land based lighthouses. Although today we view lighthouses as historic and nostalgic structures - they serve a valuable purpose and many, believe it or not, are still in use.

Lighthouses act as navigational aides for sailors, helping to protect ships from running aground. Because some of the most treacherous waters along the eastcoast are found here and the land constantly shifts, lighthouses were and are extremely important to New Jersey and the entrance to New York Harbor.

Throughout history there have been many shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey. The entrance to New York harbor, along Sandy Hook is so dangerous that it resulted in three lighthouses being built in close proximity to each other. One of these lighthouses, Navesink Lighthouse, even has two lights and is more commonly referred to as Twin Lights Lighthouse. This lighthouse had some of the very firsts in lighthouse history because of it's importance. Sandy Hook also contains the oldest operating lighthouse in North America - Sandy Hook Lighthouse which was built in 1764.

Cape May Lighthouse

Lieutenant George Meade of the Civil War, constructed many of New Jersey's ligthouses such as Barnegat, Absecon and Cape May. The style of his lighthouses are what most people picture when they think of a lighthouse. One of these, Barnegat, is the symbolic lighthouse of New Jersey and appears on the state's special Jersey Shore license plate.

Many of New Jersey's lighthouses, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, have been recently refurbished.