Old Field's 156-year-old lighthouse added to state, national historic registers
The Old Field Point Lighthouse in Setauket is now on the state and national Registers of Historic Places. Credit: Thomas Lambui
Old Field's 156-year-old lighthouse has joined Jones Beach and dozens of other Long Island landmarks on the federal and state Registers of Historic Places.
The designation, confirmed Monday by state and federal historic preservation officials, will help the Village of Old Field raise $2.3 million to restore the lighthouse, which serves as village hall in the North Shore community in Brookhaven Town.
The Old Field light station, built in 1868 on a peninsula jutting into Long Island Sound, was added on Thursday to the National Register of Historic Places, said Sherry A. Frear, chief and deputy keeper for the National Historic Landmarks Program of the National Park Service.
The lighthouse had been added on Dec. 4 to the state register, said Daniel Mackay, deputy commissioner of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Old Field officials last year launched a campaign to restore the lighthouse, which has been battered by more than a century of wind and rain. A 2022 study by a village consultant found the lighthouse was vulnerable to rainwater that collects around the foundation and floods the cellar.
The 50-foot tower also needs repairs of its cast-iron lantern dome, window frames, staircases and ceilings, village officials have said.
Village Trustee Rebecca Van Der Bogart, who is leading the campaign, said the historic designations make the lighthouse eligible for a host of federal and state grants.
“This is really good because before we didn’t have access to state funds,” she said.
The village also recently completed a project to improve resiliency of the bluff where the lighthouse stands, Van Der Bogart said.
The current lighthouse was the second beacon erected at Old Field Point, which was established as a federal light station in 1823. The first lighthouse lasted about 45 years before it was torn down.
Besides Old Field, the Montauk, Fire Island, Plum Island and Stepping Stones lighthouses also are on the state and national registers.
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
