The Chapel Hill Rear Range Light 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 ...
located off of
Middletown Township in
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, which functioned as the rear light of the now-discontinued Chapel Hill Range.
History
This light was one of three identical lighthouses built along the New York harbor approaches in the 1850s (the others being the
New Dorp Light and the
Point Comfort Light). It worked in concert with the
Conover Beacon to mark the Chapel Hill Channel, which runs north-south between the main
Ambrose Channel and the secondary channel 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 ...
. The light took its name from a Baptist church built in 1809.
In 1957 this light was discontinued and replaced by a steel tower much closer to the front light (200 ft, as opposed to . for the original lights). The old house was auctioned off in 1959 and sold to a New York businessman who intended it as a present for his amateur astronomer son. The building has since had several owners, who put an addition on the east end, added dormers along the roof line, and added various decorative touches.
See also
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Conover Beacon
References
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Transportation buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey
Lighthouses completed in 1856
Lighthouses in New Jersey
Middletown Township, New Jersey