Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse, Paulsboro, New Jersey

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, Let is shine, let it shine, let it shine.”

Harry Dixon Loes

Driving down Mantua Avenue in my husbands home town, Paulsboro, New Jersey, we came across an unusual site. There, in the middle of ball fields, stands a tall black lighthouse surrounded by a fence. I wondered why was it here when the Delaware River was still three blocks away.

I’ve always had a deep love for lighthouses but this one was so different from the lighthouses I’ve seen in the past. This lighthouse fascinated me. I got out of the car to take some pictures before it started to rain and stood there looking up at this hexagonal skeletal tower reaching towards the sky. It seemed odd that this lighthouse was surrounded by homes in a neighborhood. It seemed so out of place.

It was not open this brisk, rainy day in December. I stood there shivering in the wind whipping across the baseball diamond. The lighthouse is open on the third Sunday each month between April and September. It is also open the third weekend of October for the Lighthouse Challenge. What is the Lighthouse Challenge, you ask. The state of New Jersey has a challenge to get people interested in seeing all the New Jersey lighthouses. At any of the lighthouses, you can buy a souvenir book for $5 and then get a pressed penny to put in a book at each lighthouse showing which ones you have visited. Of course, the goal is to see them all. That would be fun to do.

After doing some research, I found out why the lighthouse was placed seeming in the town verses on the river. Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse  is paired with her sister lighthouse, The Tinicum Front Range Lighthouse. The mariners line up the two lights, one on top of the other, as a navigational tool to guide them on the Delaware River and help them avoid Little Tinicum Island, which sits in the middle of the river between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Paulsboro, New Jersey and the coast line of both states.

Little Tinicum (Indian word meaning next to the water) Island was deeded to Governor Johan Printz when he came to this land. He was told to build a massive new fort for protection, a trading post, and personal residence on the island. This island became the capital of New Sweden in 1643 and stayed the capital until 1655. The island now is just an island for the ships to avoid. They use the island now for SWAT team training but a proposal was put through to make it a State Forest Natural Area.

This iron beauty of a lighthouse stands 85’ tall and has 112 steps. The DCB-24 Aerobeacon is 1,000 watts and exhibits 500,000 candlepower which can be seen 18 miles. She shines a fixed red light to aid with navigation up the river and is still in service. It was first lit on New Years Eve in 1880. At that time, it sat on a property that had 4.8 acres. There was a keepers cottage that had seven rooms, a brick oil house, barn, barnyard, cow shed, poultry house, and privy, The dwellings were demolished in the 1950’s from disrepair.

Back in 1917 they changed from oil light, when a Parabolic reflector was used to electric. Then in 1933, the Coast Guard automated the light. It is owned by the Coast Guard and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2005.

It looks like there were four keepers of the light that lived here. The first keeper was Benjamin D. Hannold who stayed here from 1881 – 1887. The last keeper, John S. Birch was here from 1924 – 1933. He continued to live here until 1945 which by then the light was automated and he wasn’t needed.

You can tour this lighthouse for free and get beautiful views of Paulsboro, the Delaware River, and the Philadelphia International Airport. They do request donations to help with the upkeep of the light. If you get a chance to go see it, you should. This unusual light is worth checking it out. Till next time. Bye for now.