Skip to main content

Tinicum Island Rear Range Light - Paulsboro, NJ

 

The lower Delaware River in the Philadelphia area is not a place where you would expect to find historic lighthouses, but that’s exactly what you’ll find in the nearby village of Paulsboro, NJ. Located directly across the Delaware from Philadelphia International Airport, the Tinicum Island Rear Range Light is a significant lighthouse built in 1880 to mark a section of the navigable waterway along the Paulsboro riverfront south of Philadelphia.

So what exactly is a “rear range” light? Lights such as this one work in tandem with a second light, known as a “front range” light and when the two are aligned back-to-back in a certain orientation along the river, they combine to form a pathway for ships to follow in order to avoid navigable hazards. In this case, the tandem light setup was developed to help craft navigate around Little Tinicum Island in the middle of the river nearby. The rear range light here in Paulsboro is the more famous of the two and it is this light that is featured in this post.

Still active today, the lighthouse’s operations were automated in 1933. The light has a nautical range of 18 miles and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005. Seasonal tours of the lighthouse are offered by the Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse Society every third weekend of the months of April thru October. Included in the tour is a climb up the 112-step stairway to the lantern room at the top of the tower as well as inside information about its history and construction. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area or “just passing through”.


How to Get There:


Entry at the New Jersey Lighthouse Society webpage

Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse Society webpage

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dillon Road

Dillon Road is a 34.2-mile highway located in northern Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California.  Dillon Road begins at Avenue 48 on the outskirts of Indio and ends to the west at California State Route 62 near San Gorgonio Pass.  Dillon Road was developed the 1930s as a construction road for the Colorado River Aqueduct.  Dillon Road serves as a northern bypass to much of the development of Coachella Valley.  Dillon Road is known for it's frequent dips and spectacular views of San Gorgonio Pass.   Part 1; the history of Dillon Road Dillon Road was constructed as a haul road for the Colorado River Aqueduct through Coachella Valley.  The Colorado River Aqueduct spans 242 miles from Parker Dam on the Colorado River west to Lake Mathews near Corona.  Construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct began during January 1933 near Thousand Palms and was made functional on January 7, 1939.  West of Berdoo Canyon Road the alignment of Dillon Road is largely concurrent with the Colorado

Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road

Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road is an approximately 21-mile highway located in southeast Kern County.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road begins at Tehachapi Boulevard (former US Route 466) in Tehachapi and crosses the Tehachapi Mountains via the 4,820-foot-high Oak Creek Pass.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road enters Antelope Valley of the wider Mojave Desert and passes by the historic stage station of Willow Springs to a southern terminus at Rosamond Boulevard.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road has historic ties to the Havilah-Los Angeles Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road due to the once reliable presence of water at Willow Springs. Part 1; the history of Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road Oak Creek Pass and Willow Springs were known to the local tribes of the Tehachapi Mountains for generations.  The first documented European crossing of Oak Creek Pass was during 1776 as part of an expedition by Francisco Garces.  Oak Creek Pass is as used again by John C. Fremont during an 1844-1845 expedition to e

Former California State Route 152 east of Pacheco through the San Luis Reservoir

Dinosaur Point Road east of Pacheco Pass to the waters of the San Luis Reservoir is the original alignment of California State Route 152.  Since July 1965, California State Route 152 has been realigned east of Pacheco Pass via a modernized expressway.  The original alignment of California State Route 152 on occasion reemerges from the San Luis Reservoir at Dinosaur Point.  Pictured above as the blog cover is the original alignment of California State Route 152 at Dinosaur Point disappearing eastward into the waters of the San Luis Reservoir.  Below California State Route 152 can be seen passing through what is now the San Luis Reservoir east of Pacheco Pass on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Merced County. Part 1; the history of California State Route 152 east of Pacheco Pass through the San Luis Reservoir site The present site of the San Luis Reservoir during the era of Alta California was part of Rancho San Luis Gonzaga.  Rancho San Luis Gonzaga was granted to Francisco Jose Riv