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Photos: Inside The Little Red Lighthouse At Open House New York
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 17, 2011
Modified Oct 17, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 17, 2011
Modified Oct 17, 2011
Share
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This weekend, Open House New York threw open the doors to hundreds of the city's most fascinating, normally-off-limits historical sites. Despite some pre-OHNY weekend website snafus, most sites opened their doors without a hitch (though not without crowds). We stopped by the Little Red Lighthouse in Fort Washington Park to get a nautical view of the city—here's what we saw.
The Little Red Lighthouse is technically called Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, named after a small point at the base of the eastern pier of the George Washington Bridge. It was built in 1880 in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and moved to its current home beneath the bridge in 1921. The lighthouse picked up its "Little Red" moniker after the publication of the 1942 children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward.
Today, the Lighthouse is run by the Urban Park Rangers and is only open to the public a few times a year for special occasions, like OHNY. Visitors must climb up a steep spiral staircase to the top deck, then up an even smaller ladder to miniature lantern room, where the actual light is kept, and finally through a teeny-tiny panel door to get to the outdoor gallery (deck). Once you make it to the top, you're rewarded with a 360 degree view of the city, the Hudson, the Bridge and the park, making the perilous climb totally worth it.
What OHNY sites did you see? Email us photos at [email protected]!
Tagged
gallery
George Washington Bridge
Little Red Lighthouse
ohny
open house new york
photos
Jamie Feldmar
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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