Coney Island Light
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Coney Iceland Light also known as Norton's Point Light is a lighthouse on the Lower New York Bay at Coney Iceland, Brooklyn, in New York City. The tower has the United States Coast Guard number 1-34910.
Location
The tower stands at the western end of the island Coney Iceland on Norton's Point, in a residential area of Sea Gate, east of the entrance to New York harbor, in front of the channel The Narrows. It marks the shoal Gravesend Bay and the entrance to the Upper New York Bay.
History
In the year 1889 25.000 U.S. dollars was provided by the Congress of the United States to build a lighthouse on Coney Iceland. The tower should the ships on their way to Coney Iceland to conduct Sea Gate around. Furthermore, it was required to conduct the Müllschuten Verklappungsstellen nearby.
The tower was built in 1890 and participated in the August 1, 1890 on its operation. The first lighthouse keeper was Thomas Higgenbotham. In 1989 the tower was automated, with also the original Fresnel lens was replaced. Today it is in the main building of the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, DC issued. During the first six years of operation, there was a six -meter-high square wooden tower as leading lights prior to the current tower, this tower but was dismantled. Furthermore, part of the tower earlier nor a bell tower which housed the fog bell. The house fell in 1918 into the water because the flow had changed by dredging in the Ambrose Channel and land was cleared at Norton's Point. The bell tower was replaced by a tower and mounted the embankment by stones.
The best-known lighthouse keeper at Coney Iceland Light was Frank Schubert ( 1915-2003 ). Since 1939 Schubert worked at the United States Coast Guard and took over the tower in 1960. Previously, he was stationed at Old Orchard Shoal Light. He was the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States. In his work, he could save the lives of 15 castaways, but he was invited and honored by President George HW Bush to the White House.
Construction
In the tower is a steel structure with a round slender pillar in the middle, which is stabilized by four pillars that reach up to the lower balcony. The tower house is also made of steel. The tower is up to the upper balcony know the balcony itself is black, just like the lantern. Plans for the tower date from Major D. P. Heap by the United States Lighthouse Service, the few other lighthouses, such as the Throgs Neck Light Tower was built in the same style. In the optical is a Fresnel lens, the lamp was operated with petroleum.