Execution Rocks 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 ...

in the middle of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

on the border between

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

and

Sands Point, New York Sands Point is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village located at the tip of the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long ...

. It stands tall, with a white light flashing every 10 seconds. The

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

tower is painted white with a brown band around the middle. It has an attached stone keeper's house which has not been inhabited since the light was automated in 1979.

History

This island on which this lighthouse sits is claimed to derive its name from colonial New York, when slaveowning settlers of Sands Point murdered enslaved people by chaining them to the rocks during low tide to let them

drown Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others presen ...

; this tale is first recorded by

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power Bro ...

in 1974. A 1964 account in ''The Journal of Long Island History'' claims that in fact, murderers were manacled with chains to staples driven into the rock at low tide. A more likely etymology is that the British Admiralty named them Executioner's Rocks because so many ships ran aground on the treacherous rocks. References to "the Execution Rocks" in the

pre-date the American Revolution, existing as far back as 1766. On March 3, 1847, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

appropriated $25,000 for creation of Execution Rocks Lighthouse. Designed by Alexander Parris, construction was completed in 1849, although it was not lit until 1850. Over the years, it has survived both a fire and a shipwreck. The island is under the authority of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

and is off limits to the public. It can be seen, however, during the Long Island Lighthouse Society's ''Spring Cold Coast Cruise'', and from the Throgs Neck Bridge. A Daboll trumpet was added to Execution Rocks Light on Jan 25, 1869. Before being executed for murder, serial killer Carl Panzram claimed in a posthumous autobiography that in the summer of 1920 that he raped and killed a total of ten sailors and dumped their bodies at sea near Execution Rocks Light. On November 25, 1958, Execution Rocks Light was the location of a pivotal scene in the first-season episode "The Bird Guard" of the television series '' Naked City''. On May 29, 2007, the Department of the Interior identified Execution Rocks Light Station as surplus under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2007 as Execution Rocks Light Station. On January 27, 2009, the Secretary of the Interior announced that Execution Rocks Light would be transferred to the

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based Historically Significant Structures, which would partner with the Science Museum of Long Island to restore the light.''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'', January 27, 2009, "Philly group gets care of Execution Rocks Lighthouse"

Chronology

A chronological history of the lighthouse from the Coast Guard: *1847, March: Congress appropriated $25,000 for the light to be built. *1849, May: Construction was completed. *1850: The lighthouse was first lit. *1856: A fourth order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

was installed. *1868: The keeper's quarters were added. The keeper no longer had to live in the cramped space inside the tower. *December 8, 1918: A fire with an unknown origin caused $13,500 in damage. The engine house and machinery were destroyed, the tower and oil house were damaged and the windows, woodwork, gutters and eaves were also damaged. *December 5, 1979: The lighthouse was automated. A VEGA lantern replaced the Fresnel lens. *2010: Historically Significant Structures Inc. is giving tower climb tours of the lighthouse in the summer.

References

External links

* *
US-Lighthouses / Execution Rock Lighthouse History
{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1949 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Long Island Sound Buildings and structures in New Rochelle, New York National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York Transportation buildings and structures in Westchester County, New York