East Charity Shoal Light is an offshore lighthouse located near the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

's entrance in northeastern

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

, due south of the city of

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Tor ...

and approximately southwest of Wolfe Island. It is on the southeast rim of a submerged circular depression known as Charity Shoal Crater that may be the remnants of a meteorite impact. The lighthouse is located in Jefferson County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, near the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: ...

. The tower originally served Vermilion Light Station in Ohio from 1877 to 1929, and was installed at its current New York location in 1935. The lighthouse was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in March 2008. East Charity Shoal Light has been privately owned since 2009, however easements are in place to maintain the light's function as a navigational aid.

Description

East Charity Shoal Light sits upon a reinforced concrete pier, long on each side, that rises approximately above Lake Ontario. The pier is built on a wooden crib foundation with protective riprap. The tower includes a single-story concrete deckhouse that is tall and in diameter. Above the deckhouse rises a three-story cast iron white tower, topped with a lantern and lantern gallery that is painted black. The light's interior includes a basement and five stories. The total height of the pier and tower is . The automated beacon is powered by a

solar array A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and ...

, sits at a focal height of , and is visible for . East Charity Shoal Light is not open to the public, but it is visible from Tibbetts Point Light on a clear day.

History

The tower was constructed from recast obsolescent cannon after the

Battle of Fort Sumter The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War. Fol ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. It originally served Vermilion Light Station in Ohio from 1877 to 1929, but was removed after it was damaged in an ice storm. A replica of the tower was installed at Vermilion in 1991. Prior to the installation of the East Charity Shoal Light, the shoal was the cause of at least one shipwreck, when the ''Rosedale'' grounded upon the rocks on December 5, 1897. The shoal was surveyed in 1900, and was found to be an area roughly long that was covered in water approximately deep. A buoy was installed on the eastern edge of the shoal, however groundings continued to occur, leading the United States Lighthouse Service to initiate the installation of a more permanent navigational aid. Construction of the concrete pier for East Charity Shoal Light began in 1934, and the tower was installed in 1935. The tower was originally lit with a fourth-order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

and a 1,300

candlepower Candlepower (abbreviated as cp or CP) is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents. The historical candlepower is equal to 0.981 ...

light fueled by

acetylene Acetylene ( systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...

. On July 23, 2008, the

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also *Interior ministry An ...

identified East Charity Shoal Light as surplus under the

National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 (NHLPA; Public Law 106-355; 16 U.S.C. 470w-7) is American legislation creating a process for the transfer of federally owned lighthouses into private hands. It was created as an extension ...

of 2000. As such, the property was offered by the federal government for no cost to eligible agencies, institutions or organizations, with the agreement that the property would be maintained and made available for educational, recreational, or historic preservation purposes. No organization eligible under the NHLHPA was found to take ownership of the lighthouse. In 2009, East Charity Shoal Light was put up for auction and was eventually purchased for $25,501 by Cyrena Nolan of Dallas, Texas on August 27, 2009. At the time of the purchase, Nolan intended to convert the lighthouse into a vacation home. Although the property was transferred to private ownership, the light remains operational and the Aid to Navigation (ATON) remains the property of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

. An easement is in place to allow for access to maintain or modify the navigational light. The easement also disallows construction of any structure that would interfere with visibility of the light.

Description

History

References

Further reading