Photo by Pfgelfan on Wikimedia
The Historic House Trust of New York City this week announced plans to restore the Little Red Lighthouse, a landmark in Washington Heights made famous by the 1942 children’s book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” by Hildegarde H. Swift. Originally built in 1880 in New Jersey, the 40-foot structure moved to Fort Washington Park in 1921. After more than a century on the Hudson River, the lighthouse, the last remaining in Manhattan, is getting a renovation that will preserve its historic cast-iron architecture while improving accessibility and the surrounding park space.
The lighthouse was constructed on Sandy Hook in 1880, where “it used a 1,000-pound fog signal and flashing red light to guide ships through the night,” according to the city’s Parks Department. After being dismantled, the lighthouse, known then as Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse, was reconstructed by the U.S. Coast Guard and moved to Fort Washington Park in 1921.
When the George Washington Bridge opened a decade later, the bridge’s bright lights made the lighthouse obsolete, and the Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1947. The structure was nearly demolished, but fans of “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” stepped in to save the lighthouse. The 1942 story follows the construction of the massive bridge that towers over the small lighthouse, focusing on the idea that small things can also be important.
The ownership was transferred from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to the city’s Parks Department in 1951. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and is a member of the Historic House Trust…