Montauk Point, Suffolk County, New York Year first lit: 1797 Automated: 1987 Foundation: 13 ft (4 m) deep and 9 ft (3 m) thick, Natural, Emplaced, built in 1796 Construction: Sandstone Tower shape: Octagonal pyramidal Markings/Pattern: Tower painted white with a broad brown band midway, lantern black Height: 110.5 ft (33.7 m) structure Focal Height: 168 ft (51 m) Original lens: 13 whale oil lamps (1797), Fresnel lens Current lens: VRB-25 Range: 18 nm Characteristic: Flashing White 5 seconds. Fog signal: Horn: 1 every 15s ARLHS number: USA-512 USCG number: 1-660 The Montauk Point Light is a lighthouse, located in Montauk Point State Park at the easternmost point of Long Island, in the Town of East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York. The lighthouse was the first to be built within the state of New York, and is currently the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States.[ It is the oldest lighthouse in New York. Construction on the lighthouse was authorized by the Second United States Congress, under President George Washington in 1792. Construction began on June 7, 1796, and was completed on November 5, 1796, the first public works project of the United States of America. Sometime in early April of 1797 keeper Jacob Hand lit the wicks in the lamps in the tower and the lighthouse began operation. The lighthouse was operated by civilian keepers until World War II. During World War II, the lighthouse was taken over by the U.S. Army as part of the Eastern Coastal Defense Shield. The last three civilian keepers, Thomas Buckridge, Jack Miller, and George Warrington departed in the spring of 1943. Adjacent to the lighthouse, Camp Hero was opened by the Army in 1942 and was heavily fortified with huge guns during the war. Those gun emplacements and concrete observation bunkers (which are also at nearby Shadmoor State Park) are still visible. In 1946 the United States Coast Guard took over maintenance of the lighthouse and operated it until the station was automated on February 3, 1987. It was the first lighthouse in New York State, and is the fourth-oldest active lighthouse in the United States. The tower is 110' 6" high. The current light, equivalent to 2,500,000 candle power, flashes every 5 seconds and can be seen a distance of 18 nautical miles (33 km). Pirate Captain Kidd was said to have buried treasure at the foot of the lighthouse around 1699 at two ponds which today are called "Money Ponds." In 1860 the lighthouse station underwent a massive renovation when two new levels and a larger lantern were added to the lighthouse, increasing the height of the tower from its original 80 feet (1796) to its current height of 110' 6". At the same time, the current keeper's dwelling was constructed adjacent to the tower. The original 1796 dwelling was then demolished. The tower was originally all white. Its single brown stripe was added in 1899. The Coast Guard considered tearing down the lighthouse in 1967 and replacing it with a steel tower further from the edge of the bluff. When the tower was built on Turtle Hill it was 300 feet (90 m) from the edge of the cliff. It is now 100 feet (30 m) away from the edge. After World War II the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a seawall at its base, but the erosion continued. In the wake of protests over the announced dismantling of the tower, Giorgina Reid, a textile designer who had saved her Rocky Point, New York cottage from collapse by building a simple set of terraces in the gullies of the bluff, proposed to do the same at Montauk. It is now 100 feet (30 m) away from the edge thanks to the United States congressman Michael Forbes who helped passed a bill to fix the lighthouse. Reid's concept Reed-Trench Terracing called for building the terrace platforms made of various beach debris-notably reeds. The practice (along with further strengthening of the rocks at the bluff toe) has appeared to have stemmed the erosion.