Absecon Lighthouse, Atlantic City
Near Atlantic City, New Jersey
Standing one hundred seventy-one feet above Atlantic City, the Absecon Lighthouse is New Jersey's tallest lighthouse and one of the tallest brick lighthouse towers in the United States. It exists because of tragedy. Between eighteen forty-seven and eighteen fifty-six, at least sixty-four ocean-going ships were lost off Absecon Beach.
Dr. Jonathan Pitney, who is often credited as the founder of Atlantic City, lobbied Congress for a lighthouse for years. Congress appropriated thirty-five thousand dollars in eighteen fifty-four.
The construction was overseen at different stages by two Army engineers who would later face each other in a far larger conflict: Lieutenant George G. Meade, who would command Union forces at Gettysburg, and Lieutenant William Raynolds. The light was first lit on January fifteenth, eighteen fifty-seven.
In the first ten months after it was lit, not a single ship was wrecked off Absecon Beach.
