The Hudson River was essential to the history and economic development of New York. The river provided food for early settlers and is still an important waterway for commerce, which led to the expansion and growth of the City. The recognized source of the Hudson River is Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains. The river flows for 315 miles and meets with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean at New York Harbor. In 1825 the Erie Canal was opened, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson near Albany. It turned the river into a superhighway for barges carrying food and goods in both directions between New York City and the Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
The rocky outcropping of Jeffrey's Hook has always been a hazard for boats on the Hudson River at night. In 1889 a red warning light was set up on wooden poles, but a better light and audible warning for boats in fog were needed.
In 1921 the Coast Guard reassembled the lighthouse here with the name Jeffrey's Hook Light. It is constructed of 48 cast iron plates and stands 40 feet tall. It is the southernmost lighthouse on the Hudson River and the only lighthouse on Manhattan Island. Nobody ever lived in it, but a part-time attendant ran the light.
Jeffrey's Hook Light used a blinking acetylene lamp, focused by a 5th order Fresnel lens of cut glass prisms, and a fog bell to warn navigators away from the shore. For lighthouses to show pilots where they are in the dark, they each have a specific color or pattern of flashing called a ?characteristic' that pilots can recognize from a distance. The Little Red Lighthouse's characteristic is one second of light followed by two seconds of darkness.
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The Little Red Lighthouse wasn't always here. In 1880 it was erected on New Jersey's Sandy Hook, to guide ships into New York Harbor. By 1917 it had become obsolete, so it was dismantled and put into storage. In 1921, it was reassembled here to warn boats about this dangerous spot of shoreline called Jeffrey's Hook.
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