The Cape May Lighthouse is located in Cape May Point State Park in Lower Township, New Jersey. Built in 1859 under the supervision of U.S. Army engineer William F. Raynolds, it is the third fully documented lighthouse built at Cape May Point. The locations of the first two lighthouses, built in 1823 and 1847, are now underwater due to erosion. The structure was designed to withstand winds several times above hurricane force, featuring a cone-shaped outside wall and an internal cylinder with 8.5-inch-thick walls.
The tower stands 157 feet 6 inches tall from the ground to the base of the spiral staircase. Visitors must climb 217 steps to reach the top, 199 of which are inside the tower's cast iron spiral staircase. The original revolving first-order Fresnel lens was manufactured by Henry Lepaute in Paris and has an inside diameter of 6 feet. This lens was eventually moved to the Cape May County Courthouse.
While the lighthouse was automated in 1946, it has a long history of human keepers. Harry Palmer served as a keeper until he became very ill, after which his wife, Florence Arabelle (Belle) Palmer, became the lighthouse keeper in 1933. The building has also been at the center of a jurisdictional conflict between the mayors of Lower Township and Cape May Point over which municipality the lighthouse is located in.
Today, the State of New Jersey owns the lighthouse, having taken ownership from the Coast Guard in 1992. The state leases the structure to the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC), which has opened the lighthouse to the public for climbs since May 1988. Over 2.1 million people have paid to climb to the top since then. Cape May Point currently uses the lighthouse as a logo for its municipal-owned vehicles.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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