Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse, Paulsboro, New Jersey

 

“Third eye of the sea, the lonely lighthouse never sleeps.”

Nanette L. Avery

Joe and I were lucky enough to be visiting his hometown, Paulsboro on Sunday, August 20, 2023 when this historic lighthouse was open for the afternoon. It is open on the third Sunday during the months of April through October. When we heard that it was open, we knew we had to go. Joe grew up in Paulsboro and had never been up and after talking about wanting to go up for years we finally had our chance. So we felt super blessed to be in town on one of its many open days.

This is a hexagonal skeletal style black lighthouse and is a rear beacon lighthouse. When we entered the lighthouse, Walt Quint met us and gave us a brief history of this lighthouse and explained how it works. He showed us how the one strong light bulb (500,000 candlepower from a 1,000 watt lamp) worked for the light and explained how the system will turn if the main light burns out and puts in place a second light bulb to keep the light continuously lit.

He explained that as ships cruise up the Delaware River, they will see two lights. The Front Range Light name is the Tinicum Front Range Light, also known as the Billingsport Front Light, is a metal tower that sits by the river and then there is the Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse in the rear only a mere 5/8 of a mile away. When both those lights align, the ship knows it is time to turn. This light is visible for 8.5 nautical miles. Walt was super nice and very knowledgeable about this lighthouses history.

He told us this lighthouse was built in 1880 and has been active ever since. He stated the lighthouse has always been painted pure black but when you get inside the steps are painted red, Paulsboro Red that is. There is a small museum at the base of the lighthouse that has great information on the light. There are pictures of what it originally built, showing there was a house with a working farm which was where the lighthouse keeper lived. The first lighthouse keeper was Benjamin Hannold and the last lighthouse keeper was John Birch. We were lucky enough to meet his granddaughter, Sandy Birch who volunteers here and is super proud of this lighthouse and its history. The lighthouse became fully automated in 1933 and is maintained by the United States Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) based out of Philadelphia.

We put our $2.00 donation each in the donation box and were ready for our climb. We started our walk up the winding 112 metal steps to the top. We stopped a few times on the way up for a little breather and to look out the small windows for views of the town. Fortunately it was a cool day with a nice breeze so it was a comfortable temperature for our climb. When we got to the last flight of steps, we were amazed by how narrow the wooden steps were. Then we saw the small door to get out to the balcony. Oh my. We ungracefully eased our way through the small door on all fours and pulled ourselves up to see the amazing view. What a great view of the Philadelphia Airport the port, and the Delaware River and on the other side you had a great view of the town of Paulsboro. Looking straight down you also get a great view of the baseball fields that surround the lighthouse.

We had the pleasure of meeting Ray Miller at the top who was a super nice guy who told us about the light. This light is powered by a DCB-24 fixed red beacon. He also told us Tinicum Light is the furthest north lighthouse on the Delaware River. There was a lovely breeze when we were at the top which felt lovely. Joe was a little nervous when we were up there as he is afraid of heights and since it is 85 feet tall, it bothered him some.

Tinicum Lighthouse is part of the Lighthouse challenge each year. This year it is on October 21 and 22nd. This sounds like great family fun where you visit ten of New Jerseys land-based lighthouses, one museum, and three life saving stations. To enter you pay $5 at your first stop. They will give you a “Keeper Log” folder along with a parchment page that gives you details and interesting facts about that historic site. At each site, they will give you a “log book” page to insert inside your folder. You must complete the challenge before 6 pm Sunday. If you succeed, your name will be put into a drawing where you could win a basket with assorted gifts valuing over $500. That sounds like a good fun challenge.

This is a great lighthouse to visit and you can become a member for $20 a year for one or $30 a year for a family.

As we left that day, we stopped by the table that was set up with souvenirs and spoke with the friendly volunteers. I ended up leaving with Tinicum Lighthouse tee shirt and we bought a couple for Joe’s mom. If you are in the area, go check it out. I’m sure you will find it as fascinating as we did.

Till next time. Bye for now.