Old Field Lighthouse

If you’ve ever traveled on the Port Jefferson ferry you may have noticed a faint beacon in the distance just west of the harbor. Old Field Lighthouse is just what you are seeing as it stands guard over the dangerous cliffs of the area just west of Port Jefferson, NY.

Built: 1857
Opened: 1868
Automated: 1991
Material: Keepers House is made of Granite Ashlar Blocks the light tower is made of Glass & Iron

Timeline:

• 1823 – No lighthouses existed from Eatons Neck to Liggtle Gull Island
• 1822 – Congress appropriated $4,000 for the construction. $400 went to purchase of the land
• 1824 – The original 30 foot tall octantal stone tower was completed under $0.27 from original budget
• 1856 – Original Reflectors from the lighthouse were abandon
• 1868 – The current lighthouse was was started in front of the 30 foot tall stone tower
• 1869 – Current lighthouse was finished
• 1933 – Federal Government deactivated the light, and replaced it with a 50 ft skeleton light
• 1935 – Provided ‘old field’ the grounds for a Public Park
• 1941 – Pearl Harbor happen, shortly after the Coast Guard seized the lighthouse and was stationed there
• 1991 – the Beacon was returned to the lighthouse which was part of the village (no date given when returned to the village)

ODE TO OLD FIELD LIGHT

BY LIGHT KEEPER JOHN

“A seaside matriarch attired in granite and crowned with iron. An elderly granite lady who watches over the Sound with her flashing eye of red and green.The presence of lightkeepers past is most evident here….the man who wore his brass-buttoned uniform with pride….the man who once tended the old Fresnel lens as though it were the rarest of jewels. Through nights of moonlight and nights of thundering skies this lady of granite with her flashing eye has saved both ships and souls. With her flashing light she’d call to the sailors and ships ‘TAKE CARE! TAKE CARE! STEER CLEAR…THE HARBOR IS NEAR!’ For decades she sat, deemed outmoded and old, her flashing eye shut, her soul in slumber. A new light nearby upon a tower of steel now flashed to the boats on the Sound, but it was only a tower of iron….no heart and no soul. Many years went by and again the “Granite Lady of the Sound” was once more the granite guardian of Old Field Point….her red and green eye a most welcome sight on a storm-tossed night!!”