New London Ledge Light: The House in the Harbor

New London Ledge Light, the third lighthouse adopted by the New London Maritime Society, is perhaps the most familiar of the three because it is such a visible and architecturally distinctive feature of the harbor.

Its recent history is, however, different from Harbor Light and Race Rock Light in that it has been undergoing renovation by an organization formed to save it after it was abandoned by the Coast Guard in 1987.  (The Coast Guard maintains only the automated lighting apparatus and its power source.)

Established in 1987 by local residents, the Ledge Light Foundation began to raise funds, recruited volunteers, and has been repairing and renovating since then, while bringing tour groups by boat courtesy of Avery Point's Project Oceanology.  

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Completed in 1909, the lighthouse was built in brick with stone trim and boasting a mansard roof and dormers in simplified French Second Empire style. It was rumored that wealthy residents of New London's Pequot Colony neighborhood argued for a picturesque structure they would see from the windows and lawns of their equally picturesque homes.

Harbor activity had been increasing during the 19th century transition from the age of sail to the age of steam, with frequent comings and goings of passenger steamboats, coastal freight boats, ferries and tug-hauled coal barges. Harbor Light was no longer sufficiently visible to navigators, especially in fog, and a new light was needed offshore, in proximity to the dangerous Southwest and Black ledges.

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Architectural details may be seen in these exterior and interior elevations from the 1906 plans.  The name Southwest Ledge Light was soon changed to New London Ledge Light to avoid confusion with a ledge by that name near New Haven.

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Ledge Light sits atop Southwest ledge. An underwater foundation was fabricated using a wooden crib built on shore by the T. A. Scott Co. and floated out to the site. Once in place on the submerged ledge, projecting three feet above high tide water level, it was filled with concrete, stone and gravel to support the concrete base of the lighthouse building.

This south-facing photograph captures the relative remoteness of Ledge Light, where the Thames estuary merges with Long Island Sound. Fishers Island is at the left, Long Island more distant at the right. 

The remoteness of Ledge Light was the main reason many Coast Guardsmen were not excited about being assigned to it. Even those who adjusted to the lonely life probably counted the days to their next regular shore break.

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These snapshots from a photo album kept by Rick Bonnano ca. 1958-59 offer a glimpses of life at the lighthouse: 

In 1987 Ledge Light was the last lighthouse on Long Island Sound to be automated.  Coast Guardsmen had staffed it since 1939, three or four at a time, for 18-month tours, with six days off every few weeks.  

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Two milestones in the history of Ledge Light were reached during the decade after it was taken over by the Ledge Light Foundation in 1988:  In 1990 the Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1997 it was included in the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) at the Library of Congress.  

Following is an excerpt from documentation furnished to the National Park Service in the nomination for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places:

   "Upon completion of the structure in 1909, the fourth-order Fresnel lens, manufactured in Paris by Henri LePante, was illuminated for the first time. Its 22,000 candlepower beam supplemented the weaker beam of New London Harbor Lighthouse, and in 1911 the fog-signal apparatus at New London Ledge Lighthouse replaced that at the older lighthouse. The Fresnel lens was replaced in 1984 with a smaller modern lighting apparatus.

   "Serving both as a hazard marker and an entrance beacon to a major harbor and river, New London Ledge Lighthouse is a rarity, a twentieth century east coast lighthouse which fulfills a function usually carried out by an early eighteenth century lighthouse, or its replacement on site."

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The Historic American Engineering Record at the Library of Congress consists of professional architectural photographs and documentation for noteworthy examples of engineering design. A selection of photographs follows from the record for Ledge Light: