By Anthony Musso for The Poughkeepsie Journal
The Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, located offshore near Port Ewen in Ulster County, is the only remaining wooden lighthouse in existence on the Hudson River.
Completed in 1871 to replace an 1839 structure that stood just north on an adjoining island, it was needed to warn mariners of the nearby mudflats, known as the Esopus Meadows.
Its foundation, which consists of 250 piles topped with a deck of 3-inch pine, supports a 16-foot-high pier built of granite blocks. On the pier, a keeper’s house with a mansard roof and clapboard exterior was built. It has a tower and octagonal deck that housed the light and extended above the living quarters.
The Coast Guard assumed stewardship over all lighthouses in 1939. Prior to that, many resident keepers had to augment their meager wages by moonlighting, either working with the railroad or cutting ice. While the men went to shore for work, their wives stayed on the island to turn the light on at dusk and off at dawn.
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