The Conover Beacon is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

in Leonardo section of Middletown Township, Monmouth County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States, that functioned as the front light of the now-discontinued Chapel Hill Range.

History

The Chapel Hill Channel provides a north-south connection between the Ambrose Channel (the main channel into

the Narrows The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay (of larger New York Bay) and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Ri ...

) and Sandy Hook Channel, which continues west into

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west b ...

. This channel was marked, beginning in 1856, by range lights, named after the hill on which the original rear light stands. The original front beacon was a hexagonal wooden tower built at the edge of the beach in

Leonardo, New Jersey Leonardo is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located on the north shore of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The community is situated along the Raritan Bayshore and is part of t ...

. The land on which the light stood was purchased from Rulif Conover, who thus lent his name to the finished beacon. The original tower stood until 1941, though the light was discontinued for several months in 1923, only to be restored after protests. In 1941 the front range tower from the Waackaack Range was moved to a spot adjacent to the old tower, and it served as the front light for the range until discontinuance in 1988. This skeletal tower with a central shaft remains in place, and is managed by

Middletown Township, New Jersey Middletown Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in northern Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the ...

. Both the old and the new towers used the same daymark: a red band on a white tower.

References

* * * * * {{authority control Lighthouses in New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey Lighthouses completed in 1941 1856 establishments in New Jersey Middletown Township, New Jersey

History

See also

References