Thousands Attend Start of Festivities

Thousands of people helped kick off Barnegat Lighthouse’s 150th birthday celebration this past weekend, which will culminate with the relighting of the icon on January 1, 2009, exactly 150 years after its first lighting. The New Jersey light has been dark since it was decommissioned in 1944, but thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, a new $15,000 Vega VRB-25 from New Zealand is enroute to grace the tower once again. Although it’s not the original First Order Fresnel, which is safely tucked away at the Barnegat Light Historical Museum, the light will shine just as strong.

Visitors this weekend heard lectures on shorebirds, the state’s lighthouses and the Fresnel lens, as well as musical performances from bagpipers and Southern Regional High School’s choral group and string ensemble. Many people made the trek up the 217 stairs for the unparalleled view from the top. Poems, posters and other writings (including a song) created by the area schoolchildren were on display. The school project was sponsored by the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Flotilla 07-12 Auxiliary, which is stationed at the lighthouse, handed out boating safety information and chocolate lollipops shaped like lighthouses.

Repairing the Repairs of the Past

When Old Barney was given to the state in 1957 and the land surrounding it was made into a state park, the park rangers discovered one little problem…birds tended to crash into the panes of glass in the tower. Which of course put cracks in the glass. At first the state put metal netting over the glass, but it was difficult to wash the windows with it in place. Their solution was to replace the glass panes with plexiglass. Although it doesn’t crack as easily, it has turned opaque from years of salty ocean air and wind.

According to Angelo Rinaldi, President of the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, the New Jersey Historic Preservation has signed off on a plan to allow the group to install modern safety glass in its place, but the glass would have to be installed from the outside and would require that workers dangle from safety rigging almost 200 feet above the jagged rocks below.

“The first company that came and looked at it, sent their fella up there,” Rinaldi said. “He came back totally petrified and said he wouldn’t do it. So they called back and said they wouldn’t do it. I’ve got to get a glass company that works on multi-storied buildings, from New York City or even Philadelphia, because the local glass companies here, their claim to fame is car windshields and maybe an occasional storefront.”

The Relighting Ceremony

Rinaldi was unable to give a time of lighting on January 1, because it will be dependent on when it gets dark enough. The new 20 inch by 20 inch light will come on automatically, as it will have photosensors in it. The light will have a self-controlled rotating table built into it, unlike the original Fresnel, which sat on a copper carousel and had to be turned every hour.

Talks are in place to have a ceremony on the beach under the lighthouse on New Year’s Eve, with the light being lit at midnight. But according to Rinaldi, a lot of that is dependent on how much money they have left in their accounts by then. Although since the announcement of the relighting was made, more money has been coming in, he said. The Fraternal Order of Police in Long Beach Township recently made a $15,000 donation to help with the restoration. Other donations have brought in $22,000 for restoration (and party?) efforts.

The Fresnel lens at the museum, which weighs hundreds of pounds, cost the Lighthouse Board $15,000 when it was purchased in 1858. The new VRB-25 also cost $15,000, but weighs a mere 42 pounds.”The first question people always ask when they come to see the lighthouse is whether or not the light works. Now we’ll be able to proudly say that it does,” said Rinaldi.

New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge

Coming up next is the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge on October 18 and 19. Special addition to the route this year is a stop at the Barnegat Light Historical Museum to admire Barney’s original First Order lens. Also added is the Cape May County Museum, which displays Cape May’s First Order lens.

Photo Credits:

• Barney Through the Scrub Pine © Ted Kerwin. Some rights reserved.
• Stairway to Heaven © NouQraz. Some rights reserved.
• Barnegat Lit © Matthew Bensley. Some rights reserved.

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