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Frequent shipwrecks prompted the building of the 171-foot
tall Absecon Lighthouse. For the first ten months following the
first lighting on January 15, 1857, there was not one wreck; the
first-order Fresnel lens was doing its job warning ships up to
19.5 nautical miles out to sea! The conical brick and mortar
lighthouse is pale yellow on the top and bottom with a black
band in the middle and has an iron spiral central staircase with
240 steps.
The lighthouse still has the original lens but switched long ago from
kerosene flame to an electric lamp on July 1, 1925. The lighthouse was
taken out of service July 11, 1933, but was relit again on October 3,
1999. In 1970 the Absecon Lighthouse was placed on New Jersey's Register of
Historic Places and the following year was placed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
The Absecon Lighthouse Ornament is an ideal gift for any
lighthouse collector. Tom Pollard Designs specializes in
designing the finest gold-plated brass light house ornaments.
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