The Conover Beacon is a lighthouse in Leonardo section of Middletown Township, Monmouth County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Riv ...

) and

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

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 by Per ...

. This channel was marked, beginning in 1856, by

range light Leading lights (also known as range lights in the United States) are a pair of light beacons used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel; they may also be used for position fixing. At nigh ...

s, 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) within Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.

. 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 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township had a total population of 67,106, making it the most-populous municipality in the county and the state's 16th ...

. 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