NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM

The National Lighthouse Museum collects, educates, and preserves the history and technology of the nation’s lighthouses and lightships. The Museum is located on the North Shore of Staten Island and on the historical site of the United States Lighthouse Service’s General Supply Depot where all tools and equipment used by lighthouse personnel was made, imported, and tested from 1864 until 1939. The Museum is housed in the Depot’s 1912 Foundry Building, one of the last seven buildings left. In 1997, a group of lighthouse enthusiasts and historians formed the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee to choose a location as a central repository for all U.S. lighthouse history. Due to the importance of the General Depot site in lighthouse history and its prime location (a short walk from the Staten Island Ferry), Staten Island won the bid and title of National Lighthouse Museum one year later. The National Lighthouse Museum opened officially in August 2014 and plans on expanding into the adjacent 1907 Lamp Shop building within the next three years. This will coincide with the opening of the New York Wheel (a large observational wheel), shopping outlets, and hotels, which will significantly boost tourism to the area. The National Lighthouse Museum seeks funding to continue their education on the beauty, majesty and signal importance of Lighthouses.