The
Sea Girt Light is a
lighthouse marking the inlet leading to the
Wreck Pond in
Sea Girt, New Jersey, United States. It is located on a stretch of the New Jersey shore between the
Barnegat and
Navesink lighthouses. Its site was chosen after a previous proposal for a lighthouse at
Manasquan Inlet was found infeasible, and it was first lit in December 1896. Protections against sand erosion were added in 1900 and the 1920s, and in 1921, Sea Girt Light was equipped with a radio beacon for use in fog, the first such installation on a shore-based light in the US. At the outset of
World War II, the light was deactivated and the lens removed; the house was remodeled to serve as a dormitory for a Coast Guard observation post. At the end of the war, an aerobeacon was mounted atop the tower, with the original lighthouse being decommissioned. In 1955, a new beacon was erected away from the building on a steel tower on the lawn. The building was sold to the borough of Sea Girt shortly after. It was used for the town library and for meeting space for many years, while the beacon itself remained operational until 1977. The building was taken over by the Sea Girt Lighthouse Citizens Committee in 1980 and was subsequently restored. It now serves as a museum, offering tours.
Photograph credit: King of Hearts