15. Fort Wadsworth/Battery Weed Lighthouse

In 1826, a lighthouse was erected near Fort Tompkins. The only problem was, the proximity to the fort meant that practice artillery often hit and broke the lantern. In 1873 a quite fanciful lighthouse and tower were built a little further away to replace it. Now the issue was that the light was too far inland to be effective. In 1901, Congress approved plans to move the lighthouse to the Battery Weed at Fort Wadsworth.

Stretching out along the shore of Staten Island across more than 226 acres, Fort Wadsworth is one of the oldest military installations in the country. Located at the Narrows of New York Harbor, where the Upper and Lower New York Bay meet, the site was strategic in wartime. It was first fortified by the British, who held onto it throughout the Revolution, and then it was used through the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The new light at the top of the battery went into operation in 1903. Like the Little Red Lighthouse, the Battery Weed beacon became obsolete with the building of a bridge, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in this case. It is now run by the National Park Service.