Absecon Lighthouse

Specifications

Frequent shipwrecks prompted the building of the 171-foot tall Absecon Lighthouse. For the first ten months following the first lighting on January 15, 1857, there was not one wreck; the first-order Fresnel lens was doing its job warning ships up to 19.5 nautical miles out to sea! The conical brick and mortar lighthouse is pale yellow on the top and bottom with a black band in the middle and has an iron spiral central staircase with 240 steps.

History

The lighthouse still has the original lens, but switched July 1, 1925 from a kerosene flame to an electric lamp. The lighthouse was taken out of service July 11, 1933, but was relit again on October 3, 1999. In 1970, the Absecon Lighthouse was placed on New Jersey’s Register of Historic Places and the following year was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Absecon Lighthouse Ornament is an ideal gift for any lighthouse collector. Tom Pollard Designs specializes in designing the finest gold-plated brass lighthouse ornaments.