Stratford Point Lighthouse Guards Entrance to Housatonic River

Christopher Carroll  - 

U.S. Coast Guard now owns and operates the lighthouse that dates back to 1822 and sits at the entrance to Stratford Harbor.

The Stratford Point Lighthouse has seen many upgrades and facelifts through its long, 169 year history guiding sailors and boaters. Built of cast iron with a brick lining, the 52-foot high structure sits tucked away at the end of Prospect Street in Lordship and is classified as an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation.

In addition to the lighthouse, whose VRB-25 optic flashes white two times every 20 seconds and was automated in 1970, the fenced-off site includes a keeper's house built in 1881 and a fog signal building constructed in 1911.

According to information listed at "New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Guide," the first lighthouse to be constructed at the site in 1822 cost $4,000. Previously, a wood bonfire would be lit at the site to warn vessels of the treacherous waters, which was later replaced by "a fire in an iron basket on a pole."

First settled in 1639 via boat by its first white settlers, Stratford has a long tradition as an active coastal port town, with shipbuilding, ocean trade, fishing and oystering employing many thousands through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

With overland trade route roads in unpredictable condition, and natural inland barriers such as rivers and steeply graded passes posing challenges to land-based carriers of stock and goods, much of the materials imported and sold in Stratford came via water.

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