July 22, 2024 • 32 mins
Hereford Inlet Lighthouse was built in 1874 in the "stick" architectural style, sporting a red light characteristic until changing to a fixed white, then flashing white-red, to the flashing white we have today. While its gardens are considered one of the top 10 things to see in New Jersey, the lighthouse itself is beautiful to see and flush with exciting history!
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References:
- - Hereford Inlet Lighthouse (herefordlighthouse.org)
- Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, New Jersey at Lighthousefriends.com
- Hereford Inlet Lighthouse – North Wildwood, New Jersey
- North Wildwood changes lock on lighthouse, sparking public feud - WHYY
- Things You Didn't Know About the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse | Galloway, NJ Patch
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm ready.
(00:05):
Hi everybody.
I'm ready.
Hey everybody.
Go, go, go, go.
Hey everybody, I'm Vince.
And I'm Emily.
And you're listening to The Lighthouse Lowdown.
(00:33):
That was almost physically painful.
Yeah, you ever seen one of those car accidents where at the end the car ends up back on its wheels and it's all fine?
That's how that was.
Yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to the show.
Welcome.
Welcome to the show.
Okay, I'm ready.
Alright, hi everybody.
(00:55):
We've already done the introduction.
Okay.
This is just chaos.
Alright, today we're going to talk about The Lighthouse and then I'm going to jump into the history movie.
What?
I don't like that.
Yes, ma'am. First slide please.
For anyone not watching, I'm in charge of pictures today.
(01:19):
The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse.
I've heard of this lighthouse.
Really? What have you heard about it?
Nothing, just that it exists.
Well, I like the cow, the Hereford.
I like the word Hereford.
I don't know if I say it right, but I think I do.
Sounds good.
Out here in Kansas land we say Hereford.
Alright, The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, North Wildwood, New Jersey.
(01:43):
Sometimes called Angel Sea.
I guess that was the old town name.
Angel Sea like an ocean?
Yeah, I think so.
We're going to revisit that pronunciation.
Okay.
There's some other Angel Sea towns.
I think England and elsewhere.
Alright.
So, Okay, Hereford Inlet Lighthouse.
I'm going to show the location please.
(02:07):
So slide.
I was going to go maps, but you don't have to go to maps.
We just know.
It's slightly south of my last episode in New Jersey as well.
Which was Absicon Lighthouse in...
Absicon.
Yes.
Atlantic City.
(02:27):
So it's south of Atlantic City.
It's north of another lighthouse really close called Cape May.
Which is a big one.
I'm sure we'll cover it in the future.
I haven't heard of that.
Cape May is a big one for New Jersey at least.
M-A-Y?
I believe so.
It's on a barrier island between the mainland New Jersey and the island is called Five Mile Beach.
(02:49):
You can see why.
So the inlet separates for north south travel of ships.
And the inlet gap is Hereford Inlet.
It's kind of protected there.
So that's where it's at.
It's very broken up by water.
Like rivers and little bits.
So apparently there's an inland gap that runs from this area all the way down to Florida.
(03:11):
Oh my.
Not continuously.
But that inland gap protects ships from a lot of the Atlantic Ocean waves.
And so even like the outer banks.
You know how we were on Kitty Hawk and all those areas.
The outer banks.
They're outer of the inner which is the mainland.
(03:33):
And there's a strip of water in many areas that ships can travel north south in historically.
So that's kind of a recurring thing in the Atlantic coast.
It's kind of fun.
So a life saving service selected the small village of Angel Sea.
Which is on this island.
In 1849 for a life saving station.
Long time ago.
The lighthouse board recognizing the merits of the location included following in their annual report.
(04:01):
A small light say a fourth order is respectively recommended for this place as it would be of importance to the coal trade and to the steamers navigating the Delaware Bay and River.
And to mark the entrance of the inlet where there is a good harbor of refuge for small coasting vessels.
So they spotted it and they said a fourth order lens.
Which is kind of small.
(04:23):
For a coastal area that is strange.
But there are several lighthouses in this area.
So I think it was like.
Filling in a dark spot.
I don't know the history of the area as far as which lighthouses first.
But mid 1800s were looking.
So the fun fact the history buoy.
If you go to the next slide please.
This is not this reminds me this lighthouse reminds me of East brother.
(04:47):
It does.
Is that the history.
That's the history of.
So it's the only lighthouse like it on the East Coast.
Although it has five sister lights on the West Coast.
A man named.
Was his first name.
His last name is Pels P.L.Z.
He was an architect.
I think I remember.
Worked for the United States Lighthouse Board.
(05:09):
Or establishment.
I can't remember the time period.
The lighthouse folks.
And he did a bunch of things.
But one of the things he did in his career was the Library of Congress.
For the United States.
I know.
He was one of two architects that did that project.
He did the interior design.
That's the inside of the side.
(05:30):
So that's cool.
The cool part.
A pretty neat.
Yeah.
He did a bunch of cool things.
I looked at his like Wikipedia history.
And he's kind of the history buoy of today.
Mr. Pels.
But he designed point.
Furman.
East brother.
Mayor Island and point.
You name.
(05:51):
H.U.E.N. E.M.E.
and point Furman are still there.
So this style of lighthouse is called stick style.
Stick?
Stick.
Why?
I looked it up.
Stick style is known for its exposed trusses,
vertical supports, and kind of the outlines
that you see around the windows, the cupola.
(06:14):
Kind of a...
Lots of sharp edges.
To me, an uneducated man, it looks like old German style.
Like very orderly, very decorative.
It reminds me of a mix between Gothic and like,
what's it called, colonial?
Yeah.
I think both of those words were used in the Wiki.
Oh, hey.
(06:35):
To look at you.
But yeah, that's stick style.
And I was gonna show some other stick style stuff,
but because you have control today.
No, no, I would like that.
Can I scan through?
So just search stick style on Wikipedia,
if you would mind please pulling that up.
So this does look very German.
Yeah, so I'm gonna...
Tudor style.
I'm reading a little bit from the Wiki.
(06:55):
So it's a late 19th century American architectural style,
transitional between carpenter Gothic, which I love,
and mid 19th century Queen Anne style, it's colonial,
named after its linear stick work,
the overlay of board strips on the outside walls
to mimic exposed half timber frame.
So half timber is literally split wood
(07:16):
that was made like, I think of Vikings, like long houses,
mead halls, where you'd see the outside structure
is also the inside structure.
Oh, like just like...
The vertical columns.
Yep, yep.
So lots of characteristics.
Then the gallery at the bottom of the Wiki page,
if you wanna look, it's like, there's some of these
(07:38):
in like Prairie Village,
where it's got like some outside stickage.
It does look very like when you're on the way
back from the plaza.
The nice houses.
Yeah, expensive.
And then, so there's a couple of lighthouses
that were inspired by that style.
And stick style is unique on the East Coast
to only this lighthouse, is what the records say.
(08:01):
So East Brother Light also pops up
when you put in stick style lighthouse.
It's like the pretty famous one, California.
So that was our history buoy,
is the architectural stick style from Mr. Pell's.
Architectural styles is a good one.
I know, it's kinda neat.
I know.
Would you mind going back to the black and white,
(08:23):
the whack and light?
So this is from the sea.
You can see it's a little tiny lighthouse.
Two little waves.
It was 1872 when Congress approved 25 grand.
Oh, hefty.
For the lighthouse.
Yeah.
And 1.5 acre lot was purchased for 150 bucks.
Okay.
We're not too far deep into the budget yet.
(08:44):
No.
The Army Corps of Engineers were the ones
who actually oversaw construction.
So they hired a company called Hearst and Marshall
out of Philadelphia for about 15,000 at the time.
Okay, that's a lot.
And Hearst and Marshall, so I've seen this,
this is why I left it in.
I've seen it in construction, it's kinda interesting.
They signed a contract that said any day past the due date,
(09:07):
they would forfeit $10 at their contract.
Just $10?
At the time. Or each day?
For each day.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So I forget what that's called,
but I've seen it before on contracts today
in construction.
Yeah, we have that.
We have a lot of that.
What's that?
Mitigated losses.
Oh no, I have no idea.
Liquidation.
There's something.
Little rumored words. It's not retainage, yeah.
Oh, sure.
(09:27):
I should know.
We used to do construction contracts.
But anyways, I've never seen that
on another historical record of a lighthouse.
Especially this far back.
1870s, which, why is that not always the case?
Yeah.
Get it done.
Don't always take five years more.
So, okay, so they agreed to that,
(09:47):
and they actually finished July 30th,
was their target date.
They finished in April of 1874.
So they beat it, yeah.
Which is, again, very unique.
So it was...
Under budget or on budget?
I didn't say.
I think it was a lump sum contract.
So they agreed at $15,000.
(10:08):
It was like 14.6, something like that.
So we still have some budget left.
And that will kinda come up a little bit.
So, I wanted to say there was an official notice
to mariners in the area.
The light was activated on May 11th of 1874.
And the notice stated,
(10:29):
the tower height is 49 and a half feet,
with a light elevation rising to 57 feet above sea level.
The light is visible at a distance
of at least 13 nautical miles.
Not bad for a fourth order.
I know, and I don't know what that accent is,
but that's how I read it.
Oh, it's old fashioned.
Oh, I'm reading my notes.
(10:49):
Mr. Pels also was responsible
for the St. Augustine Lighthouse.
Okay, I knew it sounded familiar.
And I thought we've talked about the Congress.
Library of Congress, yep.
The other thing that was notable
about this architectural project for Mr. Pels,
they installed five fireplaces inside.
(11:11):
I was gonna say, in the picture,
there's like three visible chimneys.
I'm like, what is happening?
So, I couldn't find any details
on like how they split up the living quarters.
I'm pretty sure it was just one keeper in their family.
No way.
So, it's described as providing
very comfortable accommodations
for the keeper and his family
with five oak fireplaces.
(11:33):
Like the wood they burned, but the wood it was made of.
It's nice.
I think it was an area of wealth at the time.
Okay.
Like 25 grand in 1850.
Yeah, and if you look at the houses next to it
in like current photos.
Let me go back. Yeah.
They're nice.
Like I know we're on a beach,
so they end up being pretty nice, but like these are.
(11:54):
And they're all cute architecture.
Yeah, the colors are nice.
They're like, we have a beach house.
Look at my curvy windows.
Wee, we're rich.
Life is fun.
Several wraparound porches.
So if anyone listening is an owner in those beach houses,
we would love to come visit.
Yeah, let us come visit. You just let me know.
All right, so.
How cool would it be to record from this neighbor's porch?
(12:16):
Out of a round window.
That one specifically?
Yep.
I'm thinking higher up so we can actually see
the Fresnel lens or whatever updated lens that is.
I'll tell you all about it.
Okay, I'm excited for that.
There's been three lenses.
Oh.
So.
Did we ever get more than a fourth order?
No.
It's a shame.
Not really.
You do get more range though.
(12:36):
Okay.
So we'll talk about it.
We at Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, oh my gosh,
we had over the life of the lighthouse, 10 keepers.
One of them was a woman.
She was the wife of one of the keepers.
Of course.
But the first keeper lasted three months.
Oh.
And then he died.
His name was John Marsh, M-A-R-C-H-E.
(12:59):
I think it's Marsh.
He drowned in his little rowboat.
Was he saving somebody?
No.
He was just making a trip to town and coming back.
I don't know if he went to a tavern or what.
Too common.
Tavern?
Are you trying to squander his name?
I don't know.
Trying to say that he was drunk and that's why.
I think he was a good man.
He was the first keeper.
He was there for three months.
So a man named John Nickerson filled in
(13:22):
as the keeper for a couple weeks.
Okay.
So he was number two.
Until.
Officially?
Officially.
I'm surprised by that.
They had to have someone.
You'd think if they were having a temporary person,
they would be, they wouldn't.
Officially.
He wouldn't go down in history
as the second keeper of this lighthouse.
I know.
The third was Captain Freeling
and he was there for a while.
He was a veteran of the Civil War
and a former merchant seaman.
(13:43):
Nice.
He arrived and took charge in September of 1874.
So it hasn't been long still.
He kind of had his own vibe.
So he started inviting the local fishermen
and their families to the lighthouse
for Baptist services.
Oh, okay.
The first formal religious services
held on Five Mile Beach Island on Sundays.
(14:03):
So they gathered and that continued
until a church was built on the island.
Okay.
So I feel like he brought religion to the island.
Yeah, kind of like paved the way
when there was nowhere to worship.
Yeah.
And there wasn't a lot of settling going on there.
It's just people's homes.
I don't think there was a developed town until,
like you'd go to the mainland.
Yeah.
(14:24):
Did you read a lot about construction on this?
Like, how?
A little bit.
It's on a beach, right?
It's on a beach.
Eventually it will need to be moved.
Like many lighthouses we talked about.
Yeah.
But, and that's actually really an interesting story.
So.
Okay.
But yeah, they construct it on the beach.
It wasn't as difficult if you recall
Absican Island Light, or Absican Lighthouse in Atlantic City.
(14:50):
So that one, they had to, you know,
they had water like constantly coming
into their concrete forms.
They had to pump water.
This wasn't quite that bad.
So I think it's on a slightly more rocky area.
But there was some sand, as you'll see.
So let's see.
Oh, so Hewitt, the church man, he served for 45 years,
(15:10):
which is a long time.
That is insane.
How old was he when he started?
20 something, late 20s actually,
because he died like four years after he retired.
I don't know how he died, but it said that he retired,
moved on, and then a couple of years later he passed away.
Okay.
Really impressive, 45 years.
45 is crazy.
Yeah, he saw a lot of stuff.
(15:31):
He had a decorated uniform.
Civil War too.
Like I mentioned, some storms happened.
During his, so during these 45 years with Hewitt,
a hurricane and several storms
of almost equal power came through.
There was one in 1878 called the Gale of 1878.
It forced him and his family to abandon the lighthouse.
(15:52):
The frothing sea lifted the structure
from its block foundation.
What?
Apparently, somehow in all the history records,
they don't mention how they corrected that.
Yeah.
Maybe like lifted and then resettled perfectly.
I don't know how that works.
It wouldn't happen today.
That would be crazy.
But, that was one storm.
Another one in 1889, so 12 years later,
(16:18):
several Angel Sea residents sought refuge in the lighthouse.
The neighboring homes were destroyed and or severely damaged,
but the lighthouse stood resolute.
I love when that happens.
When it becomes like a refuge for people
in like a time of need.
Oh man, there's been some serious stories
we talked about early on especially.
But that's, so it was pretty well built, but even so.
(16:39):
But still lifted off its foundation.
I think the settlement must have been increasing.
These new homes were built
and they weren't built as good as a lighthouse.
So that's my guess.
So 1913 was the one that's really interesting.
So severe storm in August brought the sea
right up to the lighthouse.
A photograph which, oh yeah, which we do have.
(16:59):
A photograph was taken at the time,
shows that mere inches separated the lighthouse
from the water.
In fact, the foundation of the lighthouse was undermined
and the entire structure needed to be moved
150 feet westward in 1914.
Oh my gosh, it's so close.
Yeah, there's some people like, look, we made it.
But yeah, that little trough there is not a trough.
(17:20):
That's where all the sand washed away.
Oh, that's rough.
Like we've heard about a couple of times,
the lighthouse is literally lifted and shifted 150 feet.
I wonder if it's easier when it's shaped like a house,
like an integral.
I don't know, I bet it would be.
It's like more. It's wider.
Yeah, it's like maybe sturdier while moving,
but you'll have to, you have to like, I don't know.
(17:41):
Yeah.
Would you go back to that colored kind of a black
and dark red lines?
Yeah, that one.
So that color was not the original color.
Yeah. But people fell in love with it.
Really?
Oh, some changes.
No hate, but.
Oh, savage.
Some changes over time to the lighthouse.
In 1885, the lights characteristic was changed
(18:04):
from a fixed red, which I love.
Oh, I love red.
To a fixed white with a dark panel covering the town.
Oh, okay, yeah.
It was too bright.
In 1897, there was a detached brick oil house added.
Originally it was whale oil.
Okay.
Which is awesome.
In 1899, the station received a new flagstaff telephone
(18:26):
instead of signal code flags.
Ooh, fun.
So it was 1924.
The original fourth order fixed frontal lens
was replaced by a revolving lens of the same order
that produced a distinctive group flash.
I couldn't find a good photo of that,
but it's like an owl's eyes,
but in a tube, like a 90 degree elbow kind of.
(18:48):
Okay.
So as it rotated, it was flash flash.
Oh, that's kind of fun.
Yeah.
That was two flashes over 15 seconds.
The one on screen is the year 2003.
So not long ago.
The lighthouse, which had been painted,
I don't know when, this white and reddish brown trim,
it became like what people thought of the lighthouse
(19:10):
because most of the photos were black and white before then.
So it was that way for a while.
Why would they do this?
They painted it from this to a buff color,
which we talked about.
I like that.
So some lighthouse enthusiasts
were a bit appalled at the change.
But when they learned that the color
is historically accurate, they are usually appeased.
Of course.
(19:31):
That's a quote from lighthousefriends.com.
They're usually appeased.
Yeah, come on.
That's cooler than anything you could get.
Although, like, I'm seeking.
I liked all their color changes,
especially ones that are not common.
Something unique about this structure
is compared to other lighthouses style,
stick built are all wood,
(19:53):
which is not something I really thought about.
I think it checks out, stick.
Sticks or wood.
Not rock sticks.
So one thing they have to keep track
of all the keepers is fire.
Oh, of course.
Especially in structures that are several hundred years old.
So there was a story, his name was Ferdinand Heisman,
(20:14):
which is an awesome name.
He was a keeper and in 1938,
he was busy painting the exterior of the lighthouse,
like a good keeper does,
when his task was interrupted by calls of fire
from his wife, Anna.
Oh no.
A coast guardsman, likely from the station next door,
which we'll see an image of shortly,
(20:35):
noticed thick smoke emanating
from one of the upstairs windows.
What?
Yeah, he called the fire department
and then alerted the occupants of the lighthouse
to be, that they were in imminent danger.
So Heisman was all pissed.
What?
He grabbed an extinguisher and rushed upstairs
to the burning bedroom,
only to be driven back by the extreme heat and thick smoke.
(20:55):
It was a full fire.
Yeah.
Undaunted, he procured a ladder
and equipped with a garden hose,
he climbed to the second story
and fought the fire through the window.
A garden hose.
That's not a lot of power.
Thanks to the alert coast guardsman,
keeper Heisman was able to save the lighthouse
and his family, though his hair was singed by the fire
and the lighthouse sustained significant damage.
(21:16):
Oh no.
An investigation, you'll love this.
An investigation.
This arson.
Okay.
It determined that a spontaneous combustion
had started the fire in the bedroom closet.
What does that even mean?
They used to believe, and I guess some people still do,
I don't know if I do, I guess, in spontaneous combustion.
(21:38):
Like it just mattered that all of a sudden
just burst the flame.
Whatever.
Whoosh.
There was a three year period during World War II
where the light was deactivated
because supposedly the Germans had submarines off our coast.
Oh no.
Like many wartime lighthouses, they went dark.
Yeah.
But other than that, it had somebody there from 18,
(22:01):
what was it?
18 something?
70.
Hold please.
1880s until 1961.
And at that time, the light was transferred
to the Coast Guard station.
Would you show that?
It hung on for a little while.
That's a long time, yeah.
So that's the Coast Guard station.
Where, what is?
You just passed it.
(22:21):
And there's a lag, so.
The white building.
Oh, okay.
And people ask often if that was a lighthouse.
Because it looks like it.
It was not a lighthouse.
But it was a lookout room.
Okay.
For the Coast Guard.
I'm gonna say, there's gotta be some chairs over there.
Yeah, it's like a cool place.
I like the little wrought iron fence around the gallery.
That's cool.
(22:42):
But it's not a gallery.
Well, what would be the gallery?
If this were.
It went through a couple changes in hands,
including the Jersey Marine Police,
which I don't know what that is.
Probably for drugs, I don't know.
Oh.
And the Coast Guard as well.
Sounds the same as Coast Guard.
Not the same.
But there was a period in the like 1970s and 90s, I think,
(23:05):
that it was just boarded up for like 20 years.
Oh my gosh, that's so sad.
Yeah, it was.
The station, the life saving station or the?
No. Lighthouse.
The lighthouse.
So the life saving station's always been active
and then it was turned into a museum.
So still there, still rocking.
It's a life saving museum?
Yes. Okay.
For the Coast Guard, I believe.
Cool.
(23:26):
We're gonna see one of those on our trip next month.
Oh. Next month.
Next month we're going to?
Cape Cod.
Cape Cod. Next month.
It's weird.
The lighthouse in this time, the whole time,
was owned by the state of New Jersey.
The whole time or just the 20 years?
Lately. Okay.
Late 1900s at least.
And it was then leased to the city of Wildwood,
(23:50):
specifically North Wildwood. Okay.
For their uses.
So they restored it.
It's a whole big thing.
But they restored it to be,
let's see if I can find the description.
So they restored a portion of it to open
as the North Wildwood Tourist Information Center,
which I think is kind of a nice use of the space.
It still addresses that this is a lighthouse,
but it's not just for lighthouse visitors.
(24:12):
Yeah.
So it's for everyone who comes to the visitor center.
For a broader horizon.
And then during that time,
they restored the rest of the lighthouse
to be a lighthouse place.
Okay.
The modern, modern lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
the modern beacon,
this is 1982,
(24:33):
was transferred from the metal,
oh, someone built a metal tower in the meantime
and put the beacon out there.
Okay.
Like in case the abandoned lighthouse
was gonna fall or whatever.
And the metal tower was abandoned
and they put the beacon back where it should go,
which is good.
And it's rightful place.
Yeah, that was 1986.
And the Herford in that lighthouse
(24:53):
was once again performing its intended function.
There's a commission of volunteers
that did a lot of this work.
And then there's these gardens we're looking at now,
along with that boat that's kind of sitting there
in another image.
So those are the efforts of Steve Murray,
who's a superintendent of parks for North Wildwood.
He built those English cottage style gardens
(25:17):
around the lighthouse.
Apparently they're like top 10 things
in the state of New Jersey to do.
Top 10?
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
They've won awards and been featured
in numerous publications.
This is something I don't see.
And so now I'm gonna directly quote a lighthousefriends.com.
They do a great job,
but this is something that's unusual for their articles.
It says,
the lighthouse commission has ambitious plans for the area.
(25:39):
They would like to lease the adjacent coast guard station
and develop a historic maritime village.
Given the wonderful job they have done with the lighthouse,
one hopes the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection, who owns the property now,
will have the foresight to support the plans.
Village.
Yeah.
Like a village.
Cluster.
(25:59):
Like when we went to the outer banks
and we went to the tiny one,
what was the tiny one that was kind of inland?
Roanoke Marshes.
Roanoke Marshes.
So that wasn't just the lighthouse that was there,
but it was a whole shopping area,
beautiful places to stay, gorgeous.
I think that's what they're looking for
is lighthouse brings you here,
but also look at all this stuff.
Yeah.
(26:20):
Look at all these places.
You can enjoy, put some money into the town as well.
Come quiet tourism here.
Yeah.
Quiet.
Sit on the beach.
But I thought that was interesting.
There was something weird, 2017.
I don't stand on either side of this
because I don't understand it,
but the city of North Wildwood
(26:40):
leased the lighthouse from the state.
That's how it's been.
There was a group called the Friends
of Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, Inlet Lighthouse,
that ran the lighthouse and maintained it.
There's some dispute between them.
And so the city removed the Friends.
They literally changed the locks on them.
Oh my gosh.
And took it over.
(27:01):
And then the Friends sued the state
and said that they need to take,
like the Friends of Lighthouse need to take over.
Like they should be leased to them instead.
I think it was some interpersonal problem
between two dudes, seems like.
So I won't go further into it,
but I just thought that was unique.
And again, in recent history,
(27:21):
I haven't seen anything like that.
Yeah, I haven't either.
It's pretty unique.
Finding over the lighthouse.
Usually people are moving towards the same goals
when it comes to lighthouses.
Yeah.
I wonder if it's something personal
or if like one of the parties was not doing the right stuff.
Maybe there's.
I feel like it was personal, but I don't know why.
Would you go to a slide of the three lenses?
(27:44):
Thank you.
So we've got our first lens there
was the fourth order Fresnel lens.
So cute.
So the second light, it's a DCB 24.
It's a rotating mechanism light.
And then that eventually failed.
The rotation part failed, which makes sense.
Moving parts.
Yeah.
So there was a temporary fixed LED lamp that was there.
(28:05):
And that actually upgraded the range to 15 nautical miles.
Oh wow.
And then I think that was there a matter of months
until they were able to get the new light,
which is this awesome one on the right.
So it's a VRB 25 rotating light
visible for 18 nautical miles.
So though we never upgraded technically
from fourth order Fresnel, we did upgrade in range.
(28:27):
And it's always a good thing.
Probably lumens candle power, however that works.
The retired DCB 24 was placed on display
in the lighthouse in 2018,
joining the Fresnel lens that was already there.
So you can see all three of these.
Pretty cool.
One still in action, two retired.
I mentioned there was 10 keepers before.
I've got a couple more fun facts from a cool article.
(28:48):
So the gardens outside,
they're I guess inspired by English cottage style gardens.
They include 200 varieties of flowers
and hundreds of butterfly types annually.
Cute, wait, like they-
They attract them.
Attract them, oh.
Which I didn't know they'd be on the coast like that.
(29:08):
Butterflies.
I don't know why.
I'm from inland, I just assumed they were all here.
I don't know.
We have all the butterflies.
Today you can tour the nautical museum
in the lighthouse keeper's house.
Still has its five oak mantle pieces.
Oak mantle pieces.
Yeah, those five fireplaces.
Oh yeah, yeah.
So the mantle piece is over the fireplace
(29:31):
and it's a solid piece of oak.
That's amazing.
It's apparently very pretty.
Very pretty.
Very pretty.
Caffeine's getting me.
Yeah, so recently it's had around 40,000 people a year
visit this lighthouse.
So-
Pretty good.
I don't mean this in the wrong way.
We've talked a lot about lighthouse history
and there's been some crazy stories.
(29:52):
There's no insane stories that happen here.
There's a lot of really interesting things
but there's no big World War I battle or shipwrecking or-
Yeah, I feel like our first episodes
we covered a lot of like big events.
Yeah.
So, surprising to me, even now,
40,000 people a year is a lot to visit some tourist
(30:14):
attraction and I don't mean to downgrade it in saying that.
I know it's more than that but without some crazy one thing
it just goes to show how interesting
lighthouses are in general.
Talked about lighthouse tourism.
The whole area is full of them.
So, pretty neat.
And how different they all are.
Yeah, I think that's it.
That's all I got.
(30:34):
I got sources after that.
Nice.
Once we can flash on the screen but really that's
that's all I have today.
I was looking for something that stood out
and there was a lot of really interesting things
and that's what we talked about.
Do you know how long it was red?
Was it from its inception?
I think so.
Okay.
I like that.
I wonder what the lighthouse characteristics are around it.
(30:54):
That it would, that like solid red was-
Yeah.
Useful.
I guess we could map them out.
There's a lot, there's Cape May to the south,
at least these couple and then Epsican light to the north.
Not far.
What was Epsican?
That one's, oh, the light pattern.
I don't know.
I think it changed a couple of times.
Yeah, it must have.
They changed the day mark so much
then probably the light characteristic too.
(31:15):
I believe Epsican was earlier too, even earlier than 1870.
Oh, yeah.
I wanna say thank you everybody.
Our YouTube is doing really good.
LinkedIn is fun.
I had somebody at work approach me and talk about
our LinkedIn as well as a family member of theirs
that was involved in some lighthouse history.
Oh, yes.
So we're gonna talk about that.
A very cool history.
(31:35):
Very cool history.
Talk about that in the future.
But yeah, check us out anywhere you podcast.
Please give us a share, a like, a follow.
Any of those is great.
And we'll see you next time on the Lighthouse Lowdown.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(31:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm ready.
(00:05):
Hi everybody.
I'm ready.
Hey everybody.
Go, go, go, go.
Hey everybody, I'm Vince.
And I'm Emily.
And you're listening to The Lighthouse Lowdown.
(00:33):
That was almost physically painful.
Yeah, you ever seen one of those car accidents where at the end the car ends up back on its wheels and it's all fine?
That's how that was.
Yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to the show.
Welcome.
Welcome to the show.
Okay, I'm ready.
Alright, hi everybody.
(00:55):
We've already done the introduction.
Okay.
This is just chaos.
Alright, today we're going to talk about The Lighthouse and then I'm going to jump into the history movie.
What?
I don't like that.
Yes, ma'am. First slide please.
For anyone not watching, I'm in charge of pictures today.
(01:19):
The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse.
I've heard of this lighthouse.
Really? What have you heard about it?
Nothing, just that it exists.
Well, I like the cow, the Hereford.
I like the word Hereford.
I don't know if I say it right, but I think I do.
Sounds good.
Out here in Kansas land we say Hereford.
Alright, The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, North Wildwood, New Jersey.
(01:43):
Sometimes called Angel Sea.
I guess that was the old town name.
Angel Sea like an ocean?
Yeah, I think so.
We're going to revisit that pronunciation.
Okay.
There's some other Angel Sea towns.
I think England and elsewhere.
Alright.
So, Okay, Hereford Inlet Lighthouse.
I'm going to show the location please.
(02:07):
So slide.
I was going to go maps, but you don't have to go to maps.
We just know.
It's slightly south of my last episode in New Jersey as well.
Which was Absicon Lighthouse in...
Absicon.
Yes.
Atlantic City.
(02:27):
So it's south of Atlantic City.
It's north of another lighthouse really close called Cape May.
Which is a big one.
I'm sure we'll cover it in the future.
I haven't heard of that.
Cape May is a big one for New Jersey at least.
M-A-Y?
I believe so.
It's on a barrier island between the mainland New Jersey and the island is called Five Mile Beach.
(02:49):
You can see why.
So the inlet separates for north south travel of ships.
And the inlet gap is Hereford Inlet.
It's kind of protected there.
So that's where it's at.
It's very broken up by water.
Like rivers and little bits.
So apparently there's an inland gap that runs from this area all the way down to Florida.
(03:11):
Oh my.
Not continuously.
But that inland gap protects ships from a lot of the Atlantic Ocean waves.
And so even like the outer banks.
You know how we were on Kitty Hawk and all those areas.
The outer banks.
They're outer of the inner which is the mainland.
(03:33):
And there's a strip of water in many areas that ships can travel north south in historically.
So that's kind of a recurring thing in the Atlantic coast.
It's kind of fun.
So a life saving service selected the small village of Angel Sea.
Which is on this island.
In 1849 for a life saving station.
Long time ago.
The lighthouse board recognizing the merits of the location included following in their annual report.
(04:01):
A small light say a fourth order is respectively recommended for this place as it would be of importance to the coal trade and to the steamers navigating the Delaware Bay and River.
And to mark the entrance of the inlet where there is a good harbor of refuge for small coasting vessels.
So they spotted it and they said a fourth order lens.
Which is kind of small.
(04:23):
For a coastal area that is strange.
But there are several lighthouses in this area.
So I think it was like.
Filling in a dark spot.
I don't know the history of the area as far as which lighthouses first.
But mid 1800s were looking.
So the fun fact the history buoy.
If you go to the next slide please.
This is not this reminds me this lighthouse reminds me of East brother.
(04:47):
It does.
Is that the history.
That's the history of.
So it's the only lighthouse like it on the East Coast.
Although it has five sister lights on the West Coast.
A man named.
Was his first name.
His last name is Pels P.L.Z.
He was an architect.
I think I remember.
Worked for the United States Lighthouse Board.
(05:09):
Or establishment.
I can't remember the time period.
The lighthouse folks.
And he did a bunch of things.
But one of the things he did in his career was the Library of Congress.
For the United States.
I know.
He was one of two architects that did that project.
He did the interior design.
That's the inside of the side.
(05:30):
So that's cool.
The cool part.
A pretty neat.
Yeah.
He did a bunch of cool things.
I looked at his like Wikipedia history.
And he's kind of the history buoy of today.
Mr. Pels.
But he designed point.
Furman.
East brother.
Mayor Island and point.
You name.
(05:51):
H.U.E.N. E.M.E.
and point Furman are still there.
So this style of lighthouse is called stick style.
Stick?
Stick.
Why?
I looked it up.
Stick style is known for its exposed trusses,
vertical supports, and kind of the outlines
that you see around the windows, the cupola.
(06:14):
Kind of a...
Lots of sharp edges.
To me, an uneducated man, it looks like old German style.
Like very orderly, very decorative.
It reminds me of a mix between Gothic and like,
what's it called, colonial?
Yeah.
I think both of those words were used in the Wiki.
Oh, hey.
(06:35):
To look at you.
But yeah, that's stick style.
And I was gonna show some other stick style stuff,
but because you have control today.
No, no, I would like that.
Can I scan through?
So just search stick style on Wikipedia,
if you would mind please pulling that up.
So this does look very German.
Yeah, so I'm gonna...
Tudor style.
I'm reading a little bit from the Wiki.
(06:55):
So it's a late 19th century American architectural style,
transitional between carpenter Gothic, which I love,
and mid 19th century Queen Anne style, it's colonial,
named after its linear stick work,
the overlay of board strips on the outside walls
to mimic exposed half timber frame.
So half timber is literally split wood
(07:16):
that was made like, I think of Vikings, like long houses,
mead halls, where you'd see the outside structure
is also the inside structure.
Oh, like just like...
The vertical columns.
Yep, yep.
So lots of characteristics.
Then the gallery at the bottom of the Wiki page,
if you wanna look, it's like, there's some of these
(07:38):
in like Prairie Village,
where it's got like some outside stickage.
It does look very like when you're on the way
back from the plaza.
The nice houses.
Yeah, expensive.
And then, so there's a couple of lighthouses
that were inspired by that style.
And stick style is unique on the East Coast
to only this lighthouse, is what the records say.
(08:01):
So East Brother Light also pops up
when you put in stick style lighthouse.
It's like the pretty famous one, California.
So that was our history buoy,
is the architectural stick style from Mr. Pell's.
Architectural styles is a good one.
I know, it's kinda neat.
I know.
Would you mind going back to the black and white,
(08:23):
the whack and light?
So this is from the sea.
You can see it's a little tiny lighthouse.
Two little waves.
It was 1872 when Congress approved 25 grand.
Oh, hefty.
For the lighthouse.
Yeah.
And 1.5 acre lot was purchased for 150 bucks.
Okay.
We're not too far deep into the budget yet.
(08:44):
No.
The Army Corps of Engineers were the ones
who actually oversaw construction.
So they hired a company called Hearst and Marshall
out of Philadelphia for about 15,000 at the time.
Okay, that's a lot.
And Hearst and Marshall, so I've seen this,
this is why I left it in.
I've seen it in construction, it's kinda interesting.
They signed a contract that said any day past the due date,
(09:07):
they would forfeit $10 at their contract.
Just $10?
At the time. Or each day?
For each day.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So I forget what that's called,
but I've seen it before on contracts today
in construction.
Yeah, we have that.
We have a lot of that.
What's that?
Mitigated losses.
Oh no, I have no idea.
Liquidation.
There's something.
Little rumored words. It's not retainage, yeah.
Oh, sure.
(09:27):
I should know.
We used to do construction contracts.
But anyways, I've never seen that
on another historical record of a lighthouse.
Especially this far back.
1870s, which, why is that not always the case?
Yeah.
Get it done.
Don't always take five years more.
So, okay, so they agreed to that,
(09:47):
and they actually finished July 30th,
was their target date.
They finished in April of 1874.
So they beat it, yeah.
Which is, again, very unique.
So it was...
Under budget or on budget?
I didn't say.
I think it was a lump sum contract.
So they agreed at $15,000.
(10:08):
It was like 14.6, something like that.
So we still have some budget left.
And that will kinda come up a little bit.
So, I wanted to say there was an official notice
to mariners in the area.
The light was activated on May 11th of 1874.
And the notice stated,
(10:29):
the tower height is 49 and a half feet,
with a light elevation rising to 57 feet above sea level.
The light is visible at a distance
of at least 13 nautical miles.
Not bad for a fourth order.
I know, and I don't know what that accent is,
but that's how I read it.
Oh, it's old fashioned.
Oh, I'm reading my notes.
(10:49):
Mr. Pels also was responsible
for the St. Augustine Lighthouse.
Okay, I knew it sounded familiar.
And I thought we've talked about the Congress.
Library of Congress, yep.
The other thing that was notable
about this architectural project for Mr. Pels,
they installed five fireplaces inside.
(11:11):
I was gonna say, in the picture,
there's like three visible chimneys.
I'm like, what is happening?
So, I couldn't find any details
on like how they split up the living quarters.
I'm pretty sure it was just one keeper in their family.
No way.
So, it's described as providing
very comfortable accommodations
for the keeper and his family
with five oak fireplaces.
(11:33):
Like the wood they burned, but the wood it was made of.
It's nice.
I think it was an area of wealth at the time.
Okay.
Like 25 grand in 1850.
Yeah, and if you look at the houses next to it
in like current photos.
Let me go back. Yeah.
They're nice.
Like I know we're on a beach,
so they end up being pretty nice, but like these are.
(11:54):
And they're all cute architecture.
Yeah, the colors are nice.
They're like, we have a beach house.
Look at my curvy windows.
Wee, we're rich.
Life is fun.
Several wraparound porches.
So if anyone listening is an owner in those beach houses,
we would love to come visit.
Yeah, let us come visit. You just let me know.
All right, so.
How cool would it be to record from this neighbor's porch?
(12:16):
Out of a round window.
That one specifically?
Yep.
I'm thinking higher up so we can actually see
the Fresnel lens or whatever updated lens that is.
I'll tell you all about it.
Okay, I'm excited for that.
There's been three lenses.
Oh.
So.
Did we ever get more than a fourth order?
No.
It's a shame.
Not really.
You do get more range though.
(12:36):
Okay.
So we'll talk about it.
We at Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, oh my gosh,
we had over the life of the lighthouse, 10 keepers.
One of them was a woman.
She was the wife of one of the keepers.
Of course.
But the first keeper lasted three months.
Oh.
And then he died.
His name was John Marsh, M-A-R-C-H-E.
(12:59):
I think it's Marsh.
He drowned in his little rowboat.
Was he saving somebody?
No.
He was just making a trip to town and coming back.
I don't know if he went to a tavern or what.
Too common.
Tavern?
Are you trying to squander his name?
I don't know.
Trying to say that he was drunk and that's why.
I think he was a good man.
He was the first keeper.
He was there for three months.
So a man named John Nickerson filled in
(13:22):
as the keeper for a couple weeks.
Okay.
So he was number two.
Until.
Officially?
Officially.
I'm surprised by that.
They had to have someone.
You'd think if they were having a temporary person,
they would be, they wouldn't.
Officially.
He wouldn't go down in history
as the second keeper of this lighthouse.
I know.
The third was Captain Freeling
and he was there for a while.
He was a veteran of the Civil War
and a former merchant seaman.
(13:43):
Nice.
He arrived and took charge in September of 1874.
So it hasn't been long still.
He kind of had his own vibe.
So he started inviting the local fishermen
and their families to the lighthouse
for Baptist services.
Oh, okay.
The first formal religious services
held on Five Mile Beach Island on Sundays.
(14:03):
So they gathered and that continued
until a church was built on the island.
Okay.
So I feel like he brought religion to the island.
Yeah, kind of like paved the way
when there was nowhere to worship.
Yeah.
And there wasn't a lot of settling going on there.
It's just people's homes.
I don't think there was a developed town until,
like you'd go to the mainland.
Yeah.
(14:24):
Did you read a lot about construction on this?
Like, how?
A little bit.
It's on a beach, right?
It's on a beach.
Eventually it will need to be moved.
Like many lighthouses we talked about.
Yeah.
But, and that's actually really an interesting story.
So.
Okay.
But yeah, they construct it on the beach.
It wasn't as difficult if you recall
Absican Island Light, or Absican Lighthouse in Atlantic City.
(14:50):
So that one, they had to, you know,
they had water like constantly coming
into their concrete forms.
They had to pump water.
This wasn't quite that bad.
So I think it's on a slightly more rocky area.
But there was some sand, as you'll see.
So let's see.
Oh, so Hewitt, the church man, he served for 45 years,
(15:10):
which is a long time.
That is insane.
How old was he when he started?
20 something, late 20s actually,
because he died like four years after he retired.
I don't know how he died, but it said that he retired,
moved on, and then a couple of years later he passed away.
Okay.
Really impressive, 45 years.
45 is crazy.
Yeah, he saw a lot of stuff.
(15:31):
He had a decorated uniform.
Civil War too.
Like I mentioned, some storms happened.
During his, so during these 45 years with Hewitt,
a hurricane and several storms
of almost equal power came through.
There was one in 1878 called the Gale of 1878.
It forced him and his family to abandon the lighthouse.
(15:52):
The frothing sea lifted the structure
from its block foundation.
What?
Apparently, somehow in all the history records,
they don't mention how they corrected that.
Yeah.
Maybe like lifted and then resettled perfectly.
I don't know how that works.
It wouldn't happen today.
That would be crazy.
But, that was one storm.
Another one in 1889, so 12 years later,
(16:18):
several Angel Sea residents sought refuge in the lighthouse.
The neighboring homes were destroyed and or severely damaged,
but the lighthouse stood resolute.
I love when that happens.
When it becomes like a refuge for people
in like a time of need.
Oh man, there's been some serious stories
we talked about early on especially.
But that's, so it was pretty well built, but even so.
(16:39):
But still lifted off its foundation.
I think the settlement must have been increasing.
These new homes were built
and they weren't built as good as a lighthouse.
So that's my guess.
So 1913 was the one that's really interesting.
So severe storm in August brought the sea
right up to the lighthouse.
A photograph which, oh yeah, which we do have.
(16:59):
A photograph was taken at the time,
shows that mere inches separated the lighthouse
from the water.
In fact, the foundation of the lighthouse was undermined
and the entire structure needed to be moved
150 feet westward in 1914.
Oh my gosh, it's so close.
Yeah, there's some people like, look, we made it.
But yeah, that little trough there is not a trough.
(17:20):
That's where all the sand washed away.
Oh, that's rough.
Like we've heard about a couple of times,
the lighthouse is literally lifted and shifted 150 feet.
I wonder if it's easier when it's shaped like a house,
like an integral.
I don't know, I bet it would be.
It's like more. It's wider.
Yeah, it's like maybe sturdier while moving,
but you'll have to, you have to like, I don't know.
(17:41):
Yeah.
Would you go back to that colored kind of a black
and dark red lines?
Yeah, that one.
So that color was not the original color.
Yeah. But people fell in love with it.
Really?
Oh, some changes.
No hate, but.
Oh, savage.
Some changes over time to the lighthouse.
In 1885, the lights characteristic was changed
(18:04):
from a fixed red, which I love.
Oh, I love red.
To a fixed white with a dark panel covering the town.
Oh, okay, yeah.
It was too bright.
In 1897, there was a detached brick oil house added.
Originally it was whale oil.
Okay.
Which is awesome.
In 1899, the station received a new flagstaff telephone
(18:26):
instead of signal code flags.
Ooh, fun.
So it was 1924.
The original fourth order fixed frontal lens
was replaced by a revolving lens of the same order
that produced a distinctive group flash.
I couldn't find a good photo of that,
but it's like an owl's eyes,
but in a tube, like a 90 degree elbow kind of.
(18:48):
Okay.
So as it rotated, it was flash flash.
Oh, that's kind of fun.
Yeah.
That was two flashes over 15 seconds.
The one on screen is the year 2003.
So not long ago.
The lighthouse, which had been painted,
I don't know when, this white and reddish brown trim,
it became like what people thought of the lighthouse
(19:10):
because most of the photos were black and white before then.
So it was that way for a while.
Why would they do this?
They painted it from this to a buff color,
which we talked about.
I like that.
So some lighthouse enthusiasts
were a bit appalled at the change.
But when they learned that the color
is historically accurate, they are usually appeased.
Of course.
(19:31):
That's a quote from lighthousefriends.com.
They're usually appeased.
Yeah, come on.
That's cooler than anything you could get.
Although, like, I'm seeking.
I liked all their color changes,
especially ones that are not common.
Something unique about this structure
is compared to other lighthouses style,
stick built are all wood,
(19:53):
which is not something I really thought about.
I think it checks out, stick.
Sticks or wood.
Not rock sticks.
So one thing they have to keep track
of all the keepers is fire.
Oh, of course.
Especially in structures that are several hundred years old.
So there was a story, his name was Ferdinand Heisman,
(20:14):
which is an awesome name.
He was a keeper and in 1938,
he was busy painting the exterior of the lighthouse,
like a good keeper does,
when his task was interrupted by calls of fire
from his wife, Anna.
Oh no.
A coast guardsman, likely from the station next door,
which we'll see an image of shortly,
(20:35):
noticed thick smoke emanating
from one of the upstairs windows.
What?
Yeah, he called the fire department
and then alerted the occupants of the lighthouse
to be, that they were in imminent danger.
So Heisman was all pissed.
What?
He grabbed an extinguisher and rushed upstairs
to the burning bedroom,
only to be driven back by the extreme heat and thick smoke.
(20:55):
It was a full fire.
Yeah.
Undaunted, he procured a ladder
and equipped with a garden hose,
he climbed to the second story
and fought the fire through the window.
A garden hose.
That's not a lot of power.
Thanks to the alert coast guardsman,
keeper Heisman was able to save the lighthouse
and his family, though his hair was singed by the fire
and the lighthouse sustained significant damage.
(21:16):
Oh no.
An investigation, you'll love this.
An investigation.
This arson.
Okay.
It determined that a spontaneous combustion
had started the fire in the bedroom closet.
What does that even mean?
They used to believe, and I guess some people still do,
I don't know if I do, I guess, in spontaneous combustion.
(21:38):
Like it just mattered that all of a sudden
just burst the flame.
Whatever.
Whoosh.
There was a three year period during World War II
where the light was deactivated
because supposedly the Germans had submarines off our coast.
Oh no.
Like many wartime lighthouses, they went dark.
Yeah.
But other than that, it had somebody there from 18,
(22:01):
what was it?
18 something?
70.
Hold please.
1880s until 1961.
And at that time, the light was transferred
to the Coast Guard station.
Would you show that?
It hung on for a little while.
That's a long time, yeah.
So that's the Coast Guard station.
Where, what is?
You just passed it.
(22:21):
And there's a lag, so.
The white building.
Oh, okay.
And people ask often if that was a lighthouse.
Because it looks like it.
It was not a lighthouse.
But it was a lookout room.
Okay.
For the Coast Guard.
I'm gonna say, there's gotta be some chairs over there.
Yeah, it's like a cool place.
I like the little wrought iron fence around the gallery.
That's cool.
(22:42):
But it's not a gallery.
Well, what would be the gallery?
If this were.
It went through a couple changes in hands,
including the Jersey Marine Police,
which I don't know what that is.
Probably for drugs, I don't know.
Oh.
And the Coast Guard as well.
Sounds the same as Coast Guard.
Not the same.
But there was a period in the like 1970s and 90s, I think,
(23:05):
that it was just boarded up for like 20 years.
Oh my gosh, that's so sad.
Yeah, it was.
The station, the life saving station or the?
No. Lighthouse.
The lighthouse.
So the life saving station's always been active
and then it was turned into a museum.
So still there, still rocking.
It's a life saving museum?
Yes. Okay.
For the Coast Guard, I believe.
Cool.
(23:26):
We're gonna see one of those on our trip next month.
Oh. Next month.
Next month we're going to?
Cape Cod.
Cape Cod. Next month.
It's weird.
The lighthouse in this time, the whole time,
was owned by the state of New Jersey.
The whole time or just the 20 years?
Lately. Okay.
Late 1900s at least.
And it was then leased to the city of Wildwood,
(23:50):
specifically North Wildwood. Okay.
For their uses.
So they restored it.
It's a whole big thing.
But they restored it to be,
let's see if I can find the description.
So they restored a portion of it to open
as the North Wildwood Tourist Information Center,
which I think is kind of a nice use of the space.
It still addresses that this is a lighthouse,
but it's not just for lighthouse visitors.
(24:12):
Yeah.
So it's for everyone who comes to the visitor center.
For a broader horizon.
And then during that time,
they restored the rest of the lighthouse
to be a lighthouse place.
Okay.
The modern, modern lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
it's a lighthouse,
the modern beacon,
this is 1982,
(24:33):
was transferred from the metal,
oh, someone built a metal tower in the meantime
and put the beacon out there.
Okay.
Like in case the abandoned lighthouse
was gonna fall or whatever.
And the metal tower was abandoned
and they put the beacon back where it should go,
which is good.
And it's rightful place.
Yeah, that was 1986.
And the Herford in that lighthouse
(24:53):
was once again performing its intended function.
There's a commission of volunteers
that did a lot of this work.
And then there's these gardens we're looking at now,
along with that boat that's kind of sitting there
in another image.
So those are the efforts of Steve Murray,
who's a superintendent of parks for North Wildwood.
He built those English cottage style gardens
(25:17):
around the lighthouse.
Apparently they're like top 10 things
in the state of New Jersey to do.
Top 10?
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
They've won awards and been featured
in numerous publications.
This is something I don't see.
And so now I'm gonna directly quote a lighthousefriends.com.
They do a great job,
but this is something that's unusual for their articles.
It says,
the lighthouse commission has ambitious plans for the area.
(25:39):
They would like to lease the adjacent coast guard station
and develop a historic maritime village.
Given the wonderful job they have done with the lighthouse,
one hopes the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection, who owns the property now,
will have the foresight to support the plans.
Village.
Yeah.
Like a village.
Cluster.
(25:59):
Like when we went to the outer banks
and we went to the tiny one,
what was the tiny one that was kind of inland?
Roanoke Marshes.
Roanoke Marshes.
So that wasn't just the lighthouse that was there,
but it was a whole shopping area,
beautiful places to stay, gorgeous.
I think that's what they're looking for
is lighthouse brings you here,
but also look at all this stuff.
Yeah.
(26:20):
Look at all these places.
You can enjoy, put some money into the town as well.
Come quiet tourism here.
Yeah.
Quiet.
Sit on the beach.
But I thought that was interesting.
There was something weird, 2017.
I don't stand on either side of this
because I don't understand it,
but the city of North Wildwood
(26:40):
leased the lighthouse from the state.
That's how it's been.
There was a group called the Friends
of Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, Inlet Lighthouse,
that ran the lighthouse and maintained it.
There's some dispute between them.
And so the city removed the Friends.
They literally changed the locks on them.
Oh my gosh.
And took it over.
(27:01):
And then the Friends sued the state
and said that they need to take,
like the Friends of Lighthouse need to take over.
Like they should be leased to them instead.
I think it was some interpersonal problem
between two dudes, seems like.
So I won't go further into it,
but I just thought that was unique.
And again, in recent history,
(27:21):
I haven't seen anything like that.
Yeah, I haven't either.
It's pretty unique.
Finding over the lighthouse.
Usually people are moving towards the same goals
when it comes to lighthouses.
Yeah.
I wonder if it's something personal
or if like one of the parties was not doing the right stuff.
Maybe there's.
I feel like it was personal, but I don't know why.
Would you go to a slide of the three lenses?
(27:44):
Thank you.
So we've got our first lens there
was the fourth order Fresnel lens.
So cute.
So the second light, it's a DCB 24.
It's a rotating mechanism light.
And then that eventually failed.
The rotation part failed, which makes sense.
Moving parts.
Yeah.
So there was a temporary fixed LED lamp that was there.
(28:05):
And that actually upgraded the range to 15 nautical miles.
Oh wow.
And then I think that was there a matter of months
until they were able to get the new light,
which is this awesome one on the right.
So it's a VRB 25 rotating light
visible for 18 nautical miles.
So though we never upgraded technically
from fourth order Fresnel, we did upgrade in range.
(28:27):
And it's always a good thing.
Probably lumens candle power, however that works.
The retired DCB 24 was placed on display
in the lighthouse in 2018,
joining the Fresnel lens that was already there.
So you can see all three of these.
Pretty cool.
One still in action, two retired.
I mentioned there was 10 keepers before.
I've got a couple more fun facts from a cool article.
(28:48):
So the gardens outside,
they're I guess inspired by English cottage style gardens.
They include 200 varieties of flowers
and hundreds of butterfly types annually.
Cute, wait, like they-
They attract them.
Attract them, oh.
Which I didn't know they'd be on the coast like that.
(29:08):
Butterflies.
I don't know why.
I'm from inland, I just assumed they were all here.
I don't know.
We have all the butterflies.
Today you can tour the nautical museum
in the lighthouse keeper's house.
Still has its five oak mantle pieces.
Oak mantle pieces.
Yeah, those five fireplaces.
Oh yeah, yeah.
So the mantle piece is over the fireplace
(29:31):
and it's a solid piece of oak.
That's amazing.
It's apparently very pretty.
Very pretty.
Very pretty.
Caffeine's getting me.
Yeah, so recently it's had around 40,000 people a year
visit this lighthouse.
So-
Pretty good.
I don't mean this in the wrong way.
We've talked a lot about lighthouse history
and there's been some crazy stories.
(29:52):
There's no insane stories that happen here.
There's a lot of really interesting things
but there's no big World War I battle or shipwrecking or-
Yeah, I feel like our first episodes
we covered a lot of like big events.
Yeah.
So, surprising to me, even now,
40,000 people a year is a lot to visit some tourist
(30:14):
attraction and I don't mean to downgrade it in saying that.
I know it's more than that but without some crazy one thing
it just goes to show how interesting
lighthouses are in general.
Talked about lighthouse tourism.
The whole area is full of them.
So, pretty neat.
And how different they all are.
Yeah, I think that's it.
That's all I got.
(30:34):
I got sources after that.
Nice.
Once we can flash on the screen but really that's
that's all I have today.
I was looking for something that stood out
and there was a lot of really interesting things
and that's what we talked about.
Do you know how long it was red?
Was it from its inception?
I think so.
Okay.
I like that.
I wonder what the lighthouse characteristics are around it.
(30:54):
That it would, that like solid red was-
Yeah.
Useful.
I guess we could map them out.
There's a lot, there's Cape May to the south,
at least these couple and then Epsican light to the north.
Not far.
What was Epsican?
That one's, oh, the light pattern.
I don't know.
I think it changed a couple of times.
Yeah, it must have.
They changed the day mark so much
then probably the light characteristic too.
(31:15):
I believe Epsican was earlier too, even earlier than 1870.
Oh, yeah.
I wanna say thank you everybody.
Our YouTube is doing really good.
LinkedIn is fun.
I had somebody at work approach me and talk about
our LinkedIn as well as a family member of theirs
that was involved in some lighthouse history.
Oh, yes.
So we're gonna talk about that.
A very cool history.
(31:35):
Very cool history.
Talk about that in the future.
But yeah, check us out anywhere you podcast.
Please give us a share, a like, a follow.
Any of those is great.
And we'll see you next time on the Lighthouse Lowdown.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(31:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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