Sea Girt Lighthouse, located in
Sea Girt, in
Monmouth County, was a $20,000 project built in 1896 being only the fourth order of a fresnel lens. The 44 foot tall lighthouse was automated in 1945, restored in 1981, and was the last live lighthouse to be built on the Atlantic Coast.
The lighthouse is in the vicinity of Squan Inlet, in an area once known as Wreck Pond where countless shipwrecks occurred during the early 1890's. The beacon was necessary to bridge the forty mile gap between Barnegat Lighthouse State Park and Navasink Highlands.
The light flashed red once every second and was visible around 15 miles at sea. In 1915 electricity stepped in for the place of kerosene to power the lighthouse. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1977.