U.S. #5622
2021 55¢ Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses – Navesink Twin Lighthouses, New Jersey
Issue Date: August 6, 2021
First Day City: Highlands, NJ
Type of Stamp: Commemorative
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Pane of 20
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 40,000,000
Navesink Twin Lights are a pair of beacons in New Jersey overlooking Sandy Hook Bay and the entrance to New York Harbor from the Atlantic.
The first Navesink Twin Lights were constructed of blue split stone and were set 320 feet apart. Each tower was built in the shape of an octagon, and the keeper's dwelling was built in the center of the two towers. In the beginning, the north light featured a fixed white light, while the south tower featured a flashing white light. In 1841, the Navesink Twin Lights became the first in the United States to be equipped with a Fresnel lens. The north tower was given a first-order fixed lens, while the south tower was given a second-order revolving lens.
The early Navesink Twin Lights eventually became too run down for continued use, and two new towers were constructed in 1860. The new castle-like structure was built of brownstone and consisted of an octagonal north tower and square south tower 228 feet apart with the keeper's residence in between. There was also space allocated for keeper's assistants to live. On June 30, 1898, Navesink became the first coastal light to use electricity – it was also the most powerful in the country at that time.
Navesink Twin Lights were retired from service in 1949, but can still be visited by the public today.