"The Guardian Of Red"

Silent it stands 'neath the Great Gray Behemoth-

Now silent and dark, it still keeps watch-

at the sinewy steel feet of its Great Gray Companion.
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Its flashing eye shut, its clanging voice stilled-

yet stalwart and faithful it still stands.
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As in days of yore, the Mighty Hudson flows on its eternal search-

forever seeking the Sea-

the river, like its tiny red guardian-

has been silent now for too many a year.
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Many decades before, this diminutive beacon was never alone-

chuffing, chugging, steaming vessels passed by in a steady parade-

Fat red ferries and stubby tugs enshrouded with soot-

graceful excursion steamers with their decks a-swarm with merrymakers-

boats screeching, tooting, and honking, as if in salute to their Little Red Guardian.
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Long ago deemed outmoded, then darkened and shut-

vandals and vagrants now its only companions-
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From high up above comes the sounds of commerce-

the traffic relentlessly scuttling back and forth like agitated insects-

the sounds of rubber-tired traffic cannot compare-

to the melodious harmony once heard on the river below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Today, it's quite famous, a landmark quite proud-

the Little Red Lighthouse, 'neath the George Washington Bridge!
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You'd be surprised to learn of how many people (even in NYC) do not know of "Little Red"!

Interestingly, this lighthouse now sits at its second location; originally, it was part of the long-defunct, long-forgotten "Sandy Hook Range" (North Beacon), going into service in 1880.

In 1918, the lighthouse was dismantled and shipped by barge to its present location (Jeffery's Hook)

The bright lights of the new George Washington Bridge, which opened in 1932, eventually rendered the tiny lighthouse obsolete.

It was closed by the Coast Guard about 1950, and suffered from neglect and vandalism for many years.

Today, thankfully, it is on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and has also been re-lit, as a private aid to navigation!

The GWB has had airplane beacons since it was new; a number of bridges in the New York area, including the new Tappan Zee Bridge, also have navigational lights mounted beneath their roadways.

Roosevelt Island (Blackwell Island) also has its own lighthouse; it was first lit in 1872, but discontinued in the late 1940's.

It has since been restored and is now also a private aid to navigation.

Hard to believe, but the Statue Of Liberty herself was once under the jurisdiction of the old US Lighthouse Board, and, later, the War Board; her original torch was used as a beacon for navigation.

In 1902, the Statue was de-classified as a lighthouse, due, in part, to the increasing number of electric lights in Manhattan and New Jersey, which rendered the light from the torch ineffective......