Robbins Reef Light

The light is located on a small ridge of sand named Robyn's Rift by the Dutch settlers of the area. The reef is now called Robbins Reef. It is situated near the entrance to the Kill van Kull, a strait connecting New York Bay to Newark Bay.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=582|title=Robbins Reef Lighthouse|website=LighthouseFriends}} The channel is one of the most heavily used in the Port of New York and New Jersey, accessing Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal.

The name derives from the New Netherland era of the 17th century. In Dutch rob or robyn means seal, groups of which would sometimes lie on the reef at low tide.Roberts, Bruce and Jones, Ray, Lighthouses of New York, Globe Pequot Press, Guilford CT, 2008 The structure is also called Kate's Light for Kate Walker who "manned" the station alone after the death of her husband Captain John Walker in 1886, until 1919. She rowed her children to school in Bayonne. Herman Westgate was the last keeper of the lighthouse before it was finally automated. In 2009 Robbins Reef was put up for sale under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.{{cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/nhlpa/noas2009.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090513142735/http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/nhlpa/noas2009.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 13, 2009 | title = NHLPA 2009 Program, Notices of Availability | publisher = www.nps.gov | access-date = June 6, 2009}} In 2011, the Noble Maritime Collection, a maritime museum on Staten Island, was granted stewardship of the light station by the U.S. General Services Administration.{{Cite web|url=https://www.silive.com/northshore/2010/12/staten_island_museum_expected.html|title=Staten Island museum expected to be granted ownership of Robbins Reef Light Station|date=December 23, 2010|website=silive}} The octagonal structure near Robbins Reef Lighthouse is not the base of the original 1839 tower but rather a sewer outfall that was constructed around 1915.

In 2011, ownership was transferred to the Noble Maritime Collection based at Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island, through the terms of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. Recently museum volunteers have been restoring the lighthouse, with the interior restoration nearly complete. Miller’s Launch, a local launch tug, and spill response team provides periodic transportation for the volunteers. Total renovations are expected to be complete in the early 2020s, at which time the lighthouse will offer tours and even serve as a bed and breakfast.Massarella, Linda. Volunteers to restore historic lighthouse off Staten Island. NYPost.com October 8, 2017. [https://nypost.com/2017/10/08/volunteers-to-restore-historic-lighthouse-off-staten-island/] Accessed October 14, 2017

{{Gallery|mode=packed|align=center

|File:Robbins Reef Light NY.JPG|alt1=U.S. Coast Guard Photo|U.S. Coast Guard Photo from about 1950 with station boat

|File:Robbins Reef Lighthouse.JPG|alt2=Lighthouse from Staten Island Ferry|Lighthouse from Staten Island Ferry

|File:Robbins Reef Lighthouse in New York Bay.jpg|alt3=Lighthouse in 2006|In 2006

|File:RobbinsReefLight MOTBY Port Jersey 01.JPG|View northwest to MOTBY and Port Jersey

}}

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Geography of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary

{{Reflist}}

{{Stack|{{Commons category}}}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111015145241/http://www.noblemaritime.org/robbins_reef.html Noble Maritime Collection virtual tour of Robbins Reef Light Station]
• [http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/data_menu.shtml?stn=8530973+Robbins+Reef&type=Physical%20Oceanographic%20Real-Time%20System&port=ny Robbins Reef] Data for station ID 8530973, Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System NOAA.
• [http://www.cr.nps.gov/Maritime/light/robbins.htm Robbins Reef Light] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906042543/http://www.cr.nps.gov/Maritime/light/robbins.htm |date=2006-09-06 }} in NPS.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070328224238/http://www.lighthousemuseum.org/kate1.htm Kate Walker], Keeper of Robbins Reef Light, 1894–1919, National Lighthouse Museum, 2001.
• [https://www.angelfire.com/nj2/webby/njlighthouses/robbinsreef.html Robbins Reef Lighthouse] Lighthouses of the New Jersey Shore.
• Mind the Light, Katie: The History of Thirty-three Female lighthouse Keepers, Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford, 2006. ({{ISBN|0-9636412-7-1}})
• [http://jacketmagazine.com/23/lewis.html "3 Poems (from Robbins Reef Light)"], Joel Lewis, Jacket Magazine 23, August, 2003.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070819173252/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/131lighthouse/index.htm Navesink Lighthouse and Robbins Reef Lighthouse: Lighting the Way Through New York Bay, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]

{{Lighthouses of New Jersey}}

{{NRHP in Hudson County, New Jersey}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Lighthouses completed in 1883

Category:Bayonne, New Jersey

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

Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Hudson County, New Jersey

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey

Category:1883 establishments in New Jersey