Once the Lighthouse Board assumed control of the lighthouses, more strict rules were set in place, and the idea of a bar at a lighthouse would never have been considered.

Throg’s Neck, a small peninsula jutting into Long Island Sound, is named after John Throckmorten, who arrived on the peninsula in 1643 with his band of settlers. They were not given a very warm reception by the native Indians, and soon decided to try elsewhere.

Fairly early on, the need for a lighthouse at this point to mark the entrance to the East River was recognized. The land for the lighthouse was obtained by the State of New York in 1823, possibly through a condemnation procedure, and construction of the lighthouse commenced in 1826 under the direction of Timothy, Ezra, and Elisha Daboll. The remaining peninsula was purchased during the construction period with the plan to build a defensive fort at the strategic location.

1890 Throgs Neck Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The first lighthouse was completed in 1827, but less than a decade later, it and the original keeper’s dwelling were torn down during the construction of Fort Schuyler in 1835. Some stones from the buildings were used in the fort. A temporary wooden tower and a temporary two-story keeper's dwelling were built on the northeast face of the fort, with the idea that they could easily be moved if necessary.

The temporary structures remained for nearly 50 years. In 1838, the dwelling was cited as being “in a leaky condition.” Twenty years later it was reported that the dwelling was “old, leaky, shakey, and requiring immediate and thorough repairs.” Twenty years after that, the dwelling's sills had rotted to the extent that the entire building leaned to one side. At this point, the Lighthouse Board recommended that “it would be judicious to build a new dwelling”. Ten years later, in 1884 a new keepers’ dwelling was finally constructed.

The temporary wooden tower was originally fitted with a lighting apparatus composed of eleven lamps with spherical reflectors arranged around two horizontal tables. On a clear day, the fixed light could only be seen 4 ½ miles out. In 1855, it was refitted with a 6th order Fresnel lens.

The wooden tower was temporarily used six years longer than the keeper's dwelling. In 1890, it was replaced by an iron skeleton tower outfitted with a 5th order Fresnel lens. The tower was 61 ½ feet tall from its base to the center of the lantern. By 1900, it was decided that the iron tower was in the field of the fort’s battery fire, and needed to be relocated. The keepers’ dwelling was left intact, but the iron tower was replaced in 1905 with a red brick tower, built 700 feet southwest of the iron tower.

The little red brick tower, which shown it’s light for the first time on July 25, 1906, was 35 feet high and held a 4th order Fresnel lens. It was discontinued in 1934, and replaced with a skeletal tower, which stood 60 feet tall and had a fixed red light with a range of eleven miles. That same year, the SUNY Maritime College established a campus at Fort Schulyer, and started to use the 1884 keepers’ dwelling as a home for a member of its faculty. The 1934 tower was replaced in 1986 by a plain modern tower, which also displays a red light.

References

1. Lights & Legends, A Historical Guide to Lighthouses of Long Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound, and Block Island Sound, Harlan Hamilton, 1987.
2. Northeast Lights: Lighthouses and Lightships, Rhode Island to Cape May, New Jersey, Robert Bachand, 1989.
3. Lighthouses of New York, Greater New York Harbor, Hudson River & Long Island, Jim Cowley, 2000.