Elm Tree Lighthouse

Year Built

1856 (0riginal) 1939 (current)

Cost

$3,000

Type

Square Cylindrical

Height

59 feet

Location

Staten Island / Lower New York Bay

Automated Year

N/A

First Lit

1856

Lens Type

Original Third order Fresnel lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

1964

Color

Natural

Last Keeper - Date

Edward B. Burdge (1906 – at least 1921)

Description

The grounds are open to the public, but the lighthouse is not.

Brief History

•  Lit in 1856, the wooden skeletal tower had a third order lens. The keeper’s dwelling was next to the tower. The tower was part of range lights with the New Dorp Lighthouse located 1.8 miles away.
•  By 1899, the Swash Channel, which the lighthouse marked, had moved its course. The lighthouse needed to be moved.
•  In 1939 the light was moved from the wooden skeletal tower to a 65 foot concrete tower on Miller Airfield and a sixth order lens was installed.
•  The range lights were replaced with channel markers and deactivated in 1964.
•  Miller Field was abandoned in 1969, and the land was turned over to the National Park Service in 1972.