Little Red Lighthouse

The first attempt to reduce Hudson River traffic accidents at Jeffrey's Hook was a red pole that was hung out over the river.New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Historic plaque on the lighthouse A 10 candle-power light was added to the pole in 1889 to help alert the increasing river traffic to the spit of land at night. The land around Jeffrey's Hook was acquired by the city in 1896 and later became Fort Washington Park.

The early structure was built as the North Hook Beacon at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where it stood until 1917, when it became obsolete. It was reconstructed at its current location in 1921 by the United States Lighthouse Board as part of a project to improve Hudson River navigational aids, and originally had a battery-powered lamp and a fog bell. It was operated by a part-time lighthouse keeper.

Construction on the George Washington Bridge, immediately above the lighthouse, started in 1927.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/09/22/archives/ground-is-broken-for-hudson-bridge-acting-mayor-mckee-digs-earth-at.html|title=GROUND IS BROKEN FOR HUDSON BRIDGE; Acting Mayor McKee Digs Earth at 178th Street, Mayor White on New Jersey Shore. PLANES SOAR OVER RIVER Governors of Both States Heard by Radio on Both Banks From Steamer in Hudson. SEE FRIENDSHIP CEMENTED Smith Says Span Will Increase Prosperity -- Moore Calls It Monument to Progressive Spirit.|date=September 22, 1927|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 5, 2018|issn=0362-4331}} When George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/10/25/archives/two-governors-open-great-hudson-bridge-as-throngs-look-on-5000.html|title=Two Governors Open Great Hudson Bridge As Throngs Look On|date=October 25, 1931|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 6, 2010|issn=0362-4331}} the lighthouse navigational light was considered obsolete,{{cite aia5|page=570}} so the Coast Guard decommissioned it, and put it out in 1948, with the intention of auctioning it off. The proposed dismantling of it resulted in a public outcry, largely from children who were fans of the 1942 children's book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.{{cite nycland}}, p.213 This led the Coast Guard to sign its deed to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation on July 23, 1951.

The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse" in 1979,[http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/little_red_lighthouse_46.html "Little Red Lighthouse"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230182234/http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/little_red_lighthouse_46.html |date=2010-12-30 }}, Washington Heights & Inwood Online, NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, August 2001, accessed February 27, 2012 and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1991. In 2002, it was relit by the city.

Public access to the lighthouse is by the Hudson River Greenway, reachable to the north by a footbridge across the Henry Hudson Parkway at West 182nd Street and Riverside Drive, and to the south by footbridges at West 158th Street or 151st Street.{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Kevin |title=HERMAN "DENNY" FARRELL BRIDGE, Washington Heights |url=https://forgotten-ny.com/2018/01/herman-denny-farrell-bridge-washington-heights/ |website=Forgotten New York |date=16 January 2018 |access-date=6 April 2022}}

Tours of the lighthouse are given infrequently. They are arranged by the Parks Department's Urban Park Rangers, especially on the Little Red Lighthouse Festival day in late September and Open House New York day in October. The October Little Red Lighthouse Festivals in 2018 and 2019 were run by the organization Summer on the Hudson{{cite web |title=Summer on the Hudson |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/summer_on_the_hudson |website=www.nycgovparks.org |publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation |access-date=6 April 2022}} in conjunction with the Riverside Park Conservancy{{cite web |title=The Riverside Park Conservancy |url=https://riversideparknyc.org/ |publisher=The Riverside Park Conservancy |access-date=6 April 2022}} and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The festival was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it resumed in 2022.{{cite web|title=Summer on the Hudson: Little Red Lighthouse Festival|website=www.nycgovparks.org|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|url=https://riversideparknyc.org/|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516000037/https://riversideparknyc.org/|archive-date=16 May 2023|access-date=16 May 2023}}

The lighthouse is an important setting in the final scenes for the 1948 film Force of Evil, and Jane Campion's neo-noir film In the Cut features the lighthouse as motif and as a filming location.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2861aS_vJUC&pg=PA124 |pages=124–25 |title=The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel |first=Michael Aaron |last=Rockland |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780813545547}}

• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan above 110th Street
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Little Red Lighthouse}}

• [http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fortwashingtonpark/facilities/historichouses Official website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120926191146/http://www.historichousetrust.org/item.php?i_id=24 Historic House Trust]

{{Lighthouses of the Hudson River|state=collapsed}}

{{Lighthouses of New York}}

{{New York City Historic Sites|state=collapsed}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York}}

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1921

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City

Category:Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan

Category:Tourist attractions in Manhattan

Category:Washington Heights, Manhattan

Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Manhattan

Category:Relocated buildings and structures in New York City