Stratford Point Connecticut
Harbour Lights #717
2003 Christmas Edition
Lighted
RETIRED

Few settings conjure up such beauty as Christmas in Connecticut. The mind’s eye envisions sleigh rides, ice-skating, snow-covered landscapes and icy shores. For lighthouse enthusiasts, the scene includes a light station – bountiful on the coastline of Long Island Sound.

For years before there was a lighthouse at the dangerous mouth of the Housatonic River, bonfires and a fire in an iron basket comprised aids to navigation for mariners. The light station was established at Stratford Point and a wood shingle tower was built in 1822 at a cost of $4,000. Its beacon was a revolving cycle of ten lamps and reflectors on two tables, each holding five lamps.

By 1867, the old structure and keeper’s house were in disrepair, and in 1881, the present 35-foot cast iron tower and eight-room Gothic Revival house were built.

The new tower was one of the earliest prefabricated cylindrical cast-iron lighthouses in the country. It was outfitted with a Third Order Fresnel Lens with a flashing white light. The point was often pummeled by severe storms. A February storm caused the keeper to ring the bell for 104 hours, take a brief rest, and then ring it for another 103 hours.

Shortly after the new tower was erected, keeper Benedict Lillington and his son, Frederick, who served as assistant, had to leave to go to the aid of a vessel in distress. The keeper’s 12-year-old granddaughter, Lottie, was left alone and noticed that the light had gone out. She climbed to the lantern room by herself and lit a backup safety lamp, suspending it in place of the primary lamps. The captain of the steamer Elm City reported seeing the dim light as he passed the lighthouse.

In 1906, the Third Order Lens was replaced with a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens. The tower took on the look of a “headless” lighthouse when the lantern was removed in 1969 to make room for the new automated DCB-224 aero beacons. For a time, these powerful lumens made Stratford Light the brightest on Long Island Sound. The old Lens was donated to the Stratford Historical Society and displayed for 21 years.

In 1990, a smaller optic was installed and the Fourth Order Fresnel Lens refurbished and reinstalled at a cost of about $80,000. A dedication ceremony was held on July 14, 1990. A Coast Guard family now lives at the lighthouse, carefully maintaining this stately sentinel.

Today, when winter snows cover the shoreline and Christmastime is near, Stratford Point Light resembles a Currier & Ives painting of the perfect New England holiday scene.
 

Lighted by battery; optional AC adapter available.