Caption
Towards the southern end of New Jersey you will find a hotbed of gambling called Atlantic City. Easily lost in the highrise casinos and hotels is the country's third tallest lighthouse. And that's part of the problem...
First lit in 1857, this 171-foot-tall lighthouse uses a First Order Fresnel lens, the largest of its kind. The beam could shine 19.5 nautical miles out to sea, changing the local shoreline from one that had been particularly hazardous to one that could now be navigated with much greater safety.
However, by the 1880s construction was beginning in Atlantic City with homes, shops, and a boardwalk. By 1933, with the addition of taller buildings which blocked the light,
Absecon Lighthouse was decommissioned and the light extinguished.
Today you can walk the 228 steps to the top and get a great panoramic view of Atlantic City. One additional thing to notice while at the bottom of the lighthouse is the acoustics. If people are talking at the top of the lighthouse, you can clearly hear them at the bottom. Basically, you are standing at the bottom of a giant megaphone, with the sound directed right at you.
That is the history of Absecon Lighthouse. For this entry, taken from the top of the lighthouse, I decided to have some fun and give the lighthouse a chance to be the tallest structure in Atlantic City once again by erasing some of the taller buildings. I seem to have been caught in the act...