Old Orchard Shoals

Category: Lighthouses

Active aid to navigation.

Location: Three miles off Staten Island's south shore in Raritan Bay

Built: 1893
Owner: US Coast Guard

Description: The flashing white beacon marks the hazardous shoals at the narrow Gedney Channel. The brown and white tower established in 1893 stands 50.5 feet tall and sits on a caisson foundation. It is a spark plug or “bug light,” which is a prefab cast-iron cylinder about 20-feet across that was assembled on-site.