The prominent bluff at the eastern end of Long Island reminded the first European settlers of a turtle’s back, and was thus named Turtle Hill. The point’s current name, Montauk Point, refers to the Montauket Indians, who were part of a confederation of four local tribes that also included the Cutchoges, the Shinnecocks, and the Manhassets. The chiefs of the four tribes were all brothers who had inherited authority from their father, and between them, they controlled most of Long Island when the first European settlers arrived in the seventeenth century. The Manhassets had several long-standing oral traditions passed down through the generations, including that their tribe had lived in that spot ever since the glaciers from the last Ice Age retreated, that at one time they could cross Hell Gate by stepping from rock to rock, and that Plum Island was once connected to Orient Point.

Montauk Point Lighthouse in 1884 Photograph courtesy National Archives

The Montauk area remained relatively untouched by the colonists, and other than the lighthouse, a few caretaker dwellings, and a few Native American residents, there were no permanent homes east of Napeague Harbor until after 1879. This entire part of the island apparently only changed hands three times between 1655 and 1926.

Montauk Point was considered such an important and dangerous piece of land that in 1792 President George Washington personally authorized construction of a lighthouse there. In building the lighthouse, the U.S. government was following a long line of tradition – according to legend, the Montauket tribe lit signal fires on the point to summon chiefs and warriors to council. During the Revolutionary War, the British kept large fires burning on the hill to act as a beacon for their warships lying off Montauk Point to blockade Long Island Sound.

A New York contractor named John McComb submitted the low bid of $22,300 for constructing Montauk Lighthouse, beating out Abisha Woodward, Nathaniel Richards, and Abraham Miller & Company. After assembling a fifty-man crew, consisting of masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and bricklayers, McComb built Montauk Point Lighthouse like a fortress, with a foundation that went down thirteen feet and a base with walls seven feet thick. Construction started in early June 1796, and the tower and associated keeper’s dwelling were finished less than five months later. President Washington is often quoted as saying that this lighthouse would stand for 200 years, and it indeed still stands today after having endured more than two centuries of fierce Atlantic storms. McComb also built the old Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia in 1791, which also remains in place today, despite being unused for over a century.

For generations of immigrants, Montauk Point Lighthouse was their first sight of America, and it became as much a symbol of their new home as the Statue of Liberty (which also served as a lighthouse for a while).

The octagonal, seventy-eight-foot tower was made with red Connecticut sandstone, brought to the site by ship. An iron lantern room was placed atop the tower and surmounted by a round copper ventilator, the opening of which was kept facing leeward by a weather vane. Various forms of illumination have been used in the tower, starting most likely with a spider lamp, followed by Argand lamps and reflectors, a first-order Fresnel lens, and a revolving third-and-a-half-order bivalve Fresnel lens that was placed in operation in the lantern room in 1903. The bivalve lens produced a white flash every fifteen seconds, while a fixed red range lens was added to warn mariners of Shagwong Reef. The familiar reddish-brown band that bisects the lighthouse was added in 1899. Before that time, the tower was painted all white.

A new brick, six-room keeper’s dwelling was built at the point in 1837 and remains standing to this day, located at the bottom of the hill west of the tower. This residence joined a three-room frame dwelling and a four-room frame dwelling. In 1860, three years after the first-order Fresnel lens was installed, the tower was heightened fourteen feet to make it a proper first-class coastal beacon. At the same time, a new lantern room was put in place, and the wooden stairs in the tower were replaced with an iron staircase. The large, two-story keeper’s dwelling that stands just west of the lighthouse was also constructed as part of the renovations carried out in 1860.

Aerial view of Montauk Point Lighthouse in 1961 Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The first head keeper of Montauk Lighthouse was sixty-four-year-old Jacob Hand, who, despite his advanced age, looked after the light for sixteen years. Keeper Hand initially received an annual salary of $266.66 and was appointed on the conidition that his grandson would live with him and serve as an assistant, with no additional compenstation. When Jared Hand was recommended to replace his father as head keeper, President Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I have constantly refused to give in to this method of making offices hereditary. Whenever this one becomes actually vacant, the claims of Jared Hand may be considered with those of other competitors.” Jared Hand beat out any competitors and was awarded the position of head keeper in 1812.

In 1871, the Lighthouse Board requested $8,000 to place a fog signal at Montauk Point, and on May 1, 1873, a Daboll trumpet, powered by two twenty-four inch Ericsson hot-air engines, was placed in operation. A steam engine had been considered for operating the fog signal, but lack of water at the point led to the hot-air engines being adopted. The fog signal consumed twenty-one pounds of coal per hour of operation, and could be in operation for up to 925 hours during the year. In 1898, a pair of ten-horsepower oil engines and two air compressors were placed in a new fog signal building erected at the point, and the old caloric engines were removed from the old fog signal house to provide quarters for a naval militia signal corps.

James G. Scott had the longest tenure of any head keeper at Montauk Lighthouse, serving from 1885, when he was transferred from Stratford Shoal Lighthouse, until his retirement in 1910 at the age of seventy. During Scott’s service, several ships foundered offshore, but none was as memorable as a schooner laden with cocoa beans whose cargo drifted ashore. The beans were consumed in various recipes, but the favorite soon became chocolate bread pudding, known locally as Montauk Pudding, which Keeper Scott continued to serve his guests long after the shipwreck. Another schooner, the Elsie Fay, went down off Long Island in 1890 with a load of coconuts, and the locals held a contest to come up with the best recipe featuring this now-plentiful ingredient. The winner was a four-layer coconut cake, which had grated coconut mixed into the batter and placed between the layers, and which was smothered in coconut icing. Keeper Scott’s daughter recalled, “We had cocoanuts in every style for about a year; and whenever you were invited out for a meal you knew you were more than likely to get cocoanut cake.”

In 1898, fourteen-year-old Walter Scott, the only son of Keeper Scott, drowned in Money Pond near the lighthouse. The boy and his friend were fishing aboard a rowboat, when it accidentally overturned and spilled the pair into the pond. Walter apparently became entangled in the boat’s ropes, and by the time the friend made it to shore and ran the quarter-mile to the lighthouse for help, Walter had perished.

Until the late 1920s, the last few miles of road leading to the lighthouse were narrow, unpaved, and sandy. Only the most adventurous of drivers tried to make it out to the lighthouse, and even they became trapped at times. The isolation of the station made it an attractive location for smugglers during Prohibition. In 1925, a father-and-son team named Miller, who maintained the lighthouse as head keeper and first assistant keeper, was suspected of collaborating with sea-borne bootleggers.

The Coast Guard had received a call about two ships that had run aground on a sandbar near the lighthouse, both of which were suspected of carrying illegal liquor. When the Coast Guard called and talked to the younger Miller, he replied that he had not seen the grounded ships, and that they must have gotten themselves off the beach. A Coast Guard inspector, however, soon found the two wrecked ships on the same beach, surrounded by empty liquor cases. When the Millers then neglected to return calls to the Coast Guard, suspicions were aroused. As there was not enough evidence to accuse them of any crimes, it was finally concluded that a heavy snowstorm on the day of the incident had prevented the Millers from seeing the ships.

Montauk Lighthouse decorated for the holidays Photograph courtesy Guy Turchiano

Although the lighthouse structure itself has resisted the elements, the bank below the tower has been gradually eroded away by wind and waves. By the late 1960s, the tower was a mere fifty feet from falling into the sea. The Coast Guard was preparing to abandon the site and build a new light further inland, when a New Yorker named Giorgina Reid claimed to have the solution.

Reid had patented an innovative method for stopping erosion on hillsides, using trenches that were dug across the eroded face of a hill and then planted with tall grasses and reeds. The vegetation slowed runoff and further erosion, while at the same time holding moisture and giving other soil-grabbing grasses and plants a chance to grow. The Coast Guard pronounced Reid’s method a roaring success, and the lighthouse remains at its original site. A border of large stones has since been placed around the base of the point to lessen the impact of the pounding surf.

Montauk Point Lighthouse was automated in 1987, shortly after its bivalve Fresnel lens was replaced by a DCB-224 optic consisting of two revolving twenty-four-inch drums. The Montauk Historical Society signed a lease for the lighthouse on April 1, 1987, and opened it as a museum just over a month later on May 23. The oldest lighthouse in New York was fortunate to have virtually no gap between the removal of Coast Guard personnel and the takeover by the historical society.

In 1998 – 1999, International Chimney Corporation, which has restored and moved several lighthouses in the United States, carried out a three-phase restoration of Montauk Point Lighthouse at a cost of over $500,000. During the first phase, all of the metal decking atop the lighthouse was repaired. The exterior of the lighthouse was the focus of phase two, which saw several of the tower’s limestone blocks repaired and a lime-rich mortar used to repoint the tower. In phase three, workers repointed the interior of the tower, and repaired and restored the tower’s windows. Finally, the exterior of the tower was blasted with baking soda to remove paint and fungus, and the lighthouse then received two coats of Modac paint.

The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2012. On November 6, 2023, the bivalve Fresnel lens, removed in 1987, was activated atop Montauk Point Lighthouse. The return of the lens to the lantern room is a two-year pilot program initiated by the Coast Guard to assess Fresnel lens operation in an environmentally controlled lantern room. This program will help established action plans for the Fresnel lens that remain in operation.

Some lighthouse fans believe that if you can only visit one lighthouse in the U.S., this one would make a good choice. The view from atop Montauk Point Lighthouse is outstanding, and the old, two-story keeper’s dwelling is filled with an outstanding collection of various maritime and lighthouse objects, including the several Fresnel lenses.

Keepers:

• Head: Jacob Hand (1796 – 1812), Jared Hand (1812 – 1814), Henry Baker (1814 – 1832), Patrick T. Gould (1832 – 1849), John Hobart (1849 – 1852), Silas P. Loper (1852 – 1856), Jason M. Sorbell (1856 – 1857), William S. Gardiner (1857 – 1861), Joseph Stanton (1861 – 1865), Jonathan A. Miller (1865 – 1869), Thomas P. Ripley (1869 – 1872), Jonathan A. Miller (1872 – 1875), Jared Wade (1875 – 1876), Henry A. Babcock (1876 – 1885), James G. Scott (1885 – 1910), John F. Anderson (1910 – 1912), John E. Miller (1912 – 1929), Thomas A. Buckridge (1930 – 1943), Archie Jones (1946 – 1954), Charles E. Schumacher (1954 – 1959), Ira Lewis (1957 – 1959), William B. Harvey (1959 – 1963), Charles Nehibars (1963), John A. Mason (1963 – 1966), Kenneth P. Borrego (1966 – 1967), George E. Newman (1967 – 1971), Ralph W. Conant (1971 – 1975), Frank B. Abel (1975 – 1976), Kevin T. Reed (1976), Earl E. Wilson, Jr. (1976 – 1979), Paul K. Driscoll (1979 – 1983), Gene Hughes (1983 – 1987).
• First Assistant: Samuel G. Bailey (1857 – 1858), William Reeves (1858 – 1861), Josiah Dee (1861 – 1864), Clark H. Raysus (1864), Gilbert Miller (1864 – 1865), Oliver L. Loper (1865 – 1868), G.K. Miller (1868 – 1869), Elias Wales (1869 – 1870), Charles H. Payne (1870 – 1871), William H. Lugar (1871 – 1872), Albert W. Bennett (1872), Josiah Dee (1872 – 1873), Thomas A. Stamborough (1873 – 1874), Lewis L. Bennett (1874 – 1875), John Donnelly (1875 – 1876), William H. Lugar (1876 – 1881), Charles Miller (1881), Joseph H. De Castro (1881), James L. Edwards (1881 – 1885), Charles Z. Miller (1885 – 1888), Eugene Mulligan (1888 – 1890), Alonzo Baker (1890 – 1891), David G. Morrison (1891 – 1892), Everett C. King (1892 – 1904), John J. Price (1904 – 1908), John F. Anderson (1908), Evard Jansen (1908 – 1909), William H. Moon (1909 – 1910), A.J. Baldwin (1910), Joseph F. Woods (1910 – 1911), Walter O. Smiley (1911), Bernhard L. Larsson (1911), John H. Paul (1911 – 1912), Robert R. Lauier (1912), William H. Follett (1912 – 1917), John A. Miller (1917 – 1943), Chalres E. Schumacher (1946 – 1954).
• Second Assistant: Josiah Dee (1857 – 1859), Joshua Webber (1859 – 1861), Venus E. King (1861 – 1863), Stephen B. Bennett (1863 – 1864), Benjamin E. Crowell (1864), Albert Edwards (1864), Johnathan A. Miller (1864 – 1865), Elbert P. Edwards (1866), Lodowick H. King (1866 – 1867), Daniel B. Loper, Jr. (1867 – 1868), Lewis L. Bennett (1868 – 1869), Henry P. Field (1869 – 1870), Lewis L. Bennett (1870 – 1872), Thomas A. Samborough (1872 – 1873), Lewis L. Bennett (1873 – 1874), William G. Bennett (1874 – 1875), James Carr (1875 – 1876), William H. Lugar (1876), Stephen Topping (1876 – 1877), Charles Miller (1877 – 1881), Joseph H. De Castro (1881), David G. Mulford (1881 – 1882), Cornelius H. Payne (1882), David P. Osborn (1882 – 1885), Clarence Miller (1885 – 1886), Eugene Mulligan (1886 – 1888), Daniel Davis (1888 – 1889), Thomas Gurnett (1889), Alonzo Baker (1889 – 1890), David C. Johnson (1890 – 1891), Freeman Douglas (1891 – 1892), Everett C. King (1892), Charles I. Mulford (1892 – 1897), Harry T. Scott (1897 – 1902), John J. Price (1902 – 1904), Raymond A. O’Neill (1904), Freeman B. Douglas (1904), Stephen Hall (1904 – 1906), John F. Anderson (1906 – 1908), John W. Smith (1908), George E. Hansen (1908), William A. Baker (1908 – 1912), William H. Follett (1912), Louis P. Brown (1912 – 1913), Joseph Meyer (at least 1915), Harry G. Broadbrook (at least 1917), Carl Anderson (1917), Charles N. Ball (1918 – ), Harold Kierstead (1919 – 1920), Phillips A. Channell (1920 – 1921), Harry C. Bell (1921 – 1923), James A. Kirkwood (1924 – 1928), George W. Warrington (1928 – at least 1941).
• USCG: Charles E. Schumacher (1946 – 1954), Zion B. Midgett (at least 1947), Joseph P. Walsh (1967), T.M. Music (1967), Gregory L. Fraser (1967 – 1968), Samuel O. Hunter (1967 – 1968), Richard G. Vanne (1967 – 1968), Robert S. Mitchell (1967 – 1968), A. Miller (1967 – 1968), Lynn C. Gribbin (1968 – 1969), Thomas R. Russell (1968), Craig E. Wingate (1968 – at least 1971), Robert K. Wisniewski (1968 – at least 1971), Robert A. Young (1969 – 1970), D.A. Hoover (1969 – 1970), Thomas C. Presti (1970 – at least 1971).

Photo Gallery: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

References

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Northeast Lights: Lighthouses and Lightships, Rhode Island to Cape May, New Jersey, Robert Bachand, 1989.

Take Interstate 495 towards the eastern end of Long Island. At Exit 70, take Route 111 south to Route 27. Proceed east on Route 27 to its end at Montauk Point State Park.

The lighthouse is open daily during the summer and on weekends during most of the rest of the year. For hours click here or call (631) 668-2544.

The lighthouse is owned by the Montauk Historical Society. Grounds open, dwelling/tower open during visiting hours.

Find the closest hotels to Montauk Point Lighthouse

Kraig writes:

Montauk Point Lighthouse was occupied by the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, and it was during that time that the cement Fire Control Tower was built just east of the lighthouse. No, the tower was not built to watch for brush fires, but rather to help direct the artillery fire from nearby Fort Hero.

When you tour the museum look for a stuffed wood duck. The duck was killed when it crashed into the lantern room one night in 1906 and was found the next day by Willy, an eight-year-old grandson of Keeper James G. Scott. Keeper Scott had the bird stuffed and later sent it to his grandson. In 1992, Willy's grandson, who had inherited the duck, brought it with him on a visit to Montauk Point from Ohio and donated it to the museum. The stuffed fowl has been around now for over a century.