Stratford Shoal Lighthouse (1877)

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Stratford Shoal Light marks a dangerous reef located in the middle of Long Island Sound. It was first marked for navigation by a pair of spar buoys in 1820. A lightship was placed there in 1838, but it frequently drifted off its station. Stratford Shoal Lighthouse, constructed on a small, unincorporated, man-made island, was completed in 1877 to replace the lightship. Automated in 1970, it is still an active aid to navigation. Also known as Middle Light, the lighthouse is halfway between Port Jefferson, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut. Although the State of New York ceded the territory on which the lighthouse was built, it is classified as a Connecticut lighthouse on official maps. The lighthouse can be seen distantly from the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry. (more…)

Tongue Point Lighthouse (1895)

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Tongue Point Light Lighthouse, built in 1895, is on the west side of the entrance to Bridgeport Harbor, on the east end of Tongue, or Wells, Point. Originally known as Bridgeport Breakwater Light, it stood at the end of a protective breakwater, built in 1891. There was no dwelling for the lighthouse keeper until Keeper C. Adolphus McNeil built a shack on the landing dock. After his death, in 1904, his wife Flora McNeil became the lightkeeper, while also running a manicure business in downtown Bridgeport. In 1919, when the breakwater was shortened, the cast-iron lighthouse was dismantled and moved 275 feet inland. The Tongue Point Light, also known as “The Bug,” was automated in 1954. The Coast Guard was going to remove the lighthouse in 1967, but local boaters protested.