October 1792 - The first Cape Henry Lighthouse, Virginia, is completed and goes into service.
October 28, 1792 - John Smeaton, the engineer who built the third Eddystone Lighthouse in England, dies. Smeaton is regarded as the “father of civil engineering.” Smeaton’s lighthouse remained in use until 1877; it was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe.
October 10, 1846 - A hurricane destroys Florida’s Key West Lighthouse. Almost all of the island’s homes are damaged or destroyed.
October 28, 1850 - New Jersey’s Brandywine Shoal Lighthouse, the first screw pile lighthouse in the U.S. is lighted for the first time.
October 30, 1880 - A fire destroys the first (1872) Thimble Shoal Lighthouse in Virginia.
October 10, 1883 - Sherwood Point Lighthouse, Wisconsin, goes into service.
October 11, 1918 - The Puerto Rican lighthouses at Punta Higuero and Point Borinquen are severely damaged by an earthquake.
October 1921 - The former North Beacon at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is reassembled in New York, where it goes into service as the Jeffrey’s Hook Light. The tower now stands near the George Washington Bridge and was the subject of the popular children’s book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.
October 20, 1953 - A freighter strikes the Elbow of Cross Ledge Lighthouse in Delaware Bay, severely damaging the structure.
October 1995 - The restored Stony Point Lighthouse on the Hudson River in New York is re-lighted and opened to the public.
October 21, 2005 - Cape St. George Lighthouse, Florida, topples due to beach erosion.
This story appeared in the
October 2006 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
|