Horton Point Lighthouse and Nautical Museum
Southold, NY
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Horton Point Lighthouse
Horton Point Lighthouse was built and established in 1857. Its numbers on the U.S. Coast Guard Light List is 21,150. Its position is Latitude 41º 05.1' N, Longitude 72° 26 8' W. As a working light it gives a slow flashing green-tinged glow every 10 seconds. The height of the tower above ground is 58 feet and the height of the focal plane is 103 feet above sea level; its range is approximately 14 nautical miles. The light's original optic was a 3rd order Fresnel lens.
Horton Point is one of Southold's seven existing lighthouses. The tower and the joined Keeper's dwelling stand on the "Cliff Lot" of Barnabas Horton's original 1640 land grant.
As originally built, the separated tower was joined to the two-story, Federal style keeper's dwelling by a cut-stone, arched windway. Some 30 years later the archway was closed-in, and a second story was added between the structures, creating space for an assistant keeper's dormitory. About that time, the gracious north porch was added.
In 1933, the light was turned off in the tower, and an automated one was lit on top of a skeletal tower 50' closer to the shoreline. In January 1934, the Southold Park District purchased the Lighthouse buildings and grounds from the U.S. Department of Commerce for one dollar. The last keeper stayed on in residence until the 1938 hurricane.
During World War II, the buildings were occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard and successively other military units, as well as the Civilian Defense Corps.
Oral history suggests that in 1757, George Washington saw and discussed the possibility of a lighthouse with Ezra L'Hommedieu, who later designed the placement of Montauk Lighthouse for then-President George Washington.
Intense Restoration occurred in 1990, when the tower was repaired internally and externally, reopened and relit. The skeletal tower was then removed. The Keeper's dwelling now houses Southold Historical Society's Nautical Museum which displays early artifacts of the Township's Maritime Heritage.
Horton Point Lighthouse is listed in the New York State Register of Historic Places and the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is a designated Town of Southold Landmark as well.
The eight acre park is owned and maintained by the Southold Park District. It provides one of the most spectacular seascapes on Long Island's north shore. Here one can view the Sound and visualize its many moods, its past and present commerce and the challenges which faced L.I. refugees traveling to and from the Connecticut coast when Eastern Long Island was occupied by the British from 1777-1784. One can also conjure up visions of the Sloops of War in 1812 and WWII convoys of the 1940's.
The park contains a natural bowl formation where musical events have been staged. Picnic benches are provided for visitors.
West of the keeper's dwelling is a menhaden boiling pot from the burned down East Marion processing factory. It was later salvaged by fisherman who used it to tar their nets on the beach.
Lying north of the tower in the same direction as it was found, rests the recovered anchor of the side-wheeler "Commodore" which was shipwrecked on December 25-26, 1866.
The two cast iron bollards and bitt at the end of the clamshell drive were donated in 1990 by the Cross Sound Ferry Company.
The eighty foot flag pole was a gift from the United States Coast Guard on June 7, 2026 when the light was returned to the restored tower. It is mounted on the foundation of the 1933 skeletal tower which was demolished. Below our National Colors on its yardarms, fly code flags spelling out the initials of the Southold Historical Society and those of the Southold Park District, symbolic of their close relationship and cooperation which makes Horton Point Lighthouse and its park grounds a "gem" of the North Fork.
The Nautical Museum displays a unique collection of both museum-owned and patron-loaned lighthouse and other early marine artifacts. Sea chests, paintings, photographs, maps, scrimshaw, baymen's tools, and various marine displays create for the visitor a vision of life, culture, and craftsmanship of the farmer-mariners of Southold Town. While some earned their livelihood from the bounty of the Sound, bays, and creeks, others sailed the oceans of the world in search of whales or profitable cargos and to protect our national interests. The basement's "Admiral Baumann Room" while housing ship artifacts affords limited space for nautical programs and video tape viewings.
Six years ago Tony Scarmato, a local artist, presented the Nautical Museum with a signed print of his lighthouse painting. It had been painted before the tower's iron balcony and the dwelling's front porch had been restored. At that time Tony said that if he ever painted the lighthouse again, he would include those features. Keeping his word, Tony did a new rendition and on May 29 1999 presented his new painting to Maureen Ostermann, Southold Historical Society President to be displayed at the Nautical Museum.This painting is now on display at the museum. You can view more of Tony's paintings at www.greenport.com/scarmato
Sunday, August 27: A Benny Goodman Tribute by the Ray Alexander Quintet. 4PM at the lighthouse. Tickets are $12. Call 765-5500 for more information.
Sunday, September 3: A book signing party with Jack Oxee and Peggy Leather, author and illustrator of Georgie's Bright Idea, the first coloring book about the history of the Horton Point Lighthouse. 3:30 at the lighthouse, rain or shine. Call 765-5500 for more information or to order a copy of the book.
NEW for 2000:
Expanded parking facilities
Public barbeque grills on the grounds
A scrimshaw exhibit in the Nautical Museum
Buoy lamps from the early 1900s
The FA-251 optic, which used to reside in the lantern room, is now on exhibit
New exhibits in the reconstructed oil house, including whale bones
The filming of the independent film April V at the lighthouse concluded August 27, 1999. This is the second independent film shot on the gounds since the completion of the light's restoration in 1993. The site was chosen for the movie because of its beauty and atmosphere, both of which lent a "very dreamlike mood" to the filming. In the photograph below, taken during a rainy day of filming on August 26, the crew reviews a segment which they just filmed. The camera is on the right, at the end of the boom.
Parking spaces for visitors' vehicles are provided inside the grounds. Spaces near the tower are reserved for Lighthouse volunteer workers only. The Southold Park District has expanded the parking area. Removing a forbidding chain link fence, the west boundary and new parking area is fenced by pressurized wood pilings and chain, capped with the effect being quite nautical and befitting the Lighthouse Park.
US Lighthouse Society Passports are recognized by Horton Point Lighthouse and are honored by a membership discount at the Museum's Shop.
Lighthouse Park Grounds are open at all times. The Lighthouse and Nautical Museum buildings are manned by volunteers and are open Memorial Day through Columbus Day on Saturdays and Sundays 11:30a.m. to 4:00p.m. To arrange group tours and special openings call: (631) 765-5500. Suggested donation for adult admission is $2.00. Children are free.
I. PRINCE BUILDING (Main Road next to North Fork Bank)
Society Headquarters
Library & Archives
Museum Gift Shop
II. SOUTHOLD HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUMS & GROUNDS (Main Road at Maple Lane)
Ann Curie Bell/Hallock House
Thomas Moore House, pre-1653
Cleveland/Grover/Gagen Blacksmith Shop, c. 1845
Downs Carriage House, c. 1845
Buttery
Ice House
Corn Crib
Pine Neck Barn, 18th C.
Bayview School, 1822
Treasure Exhange
III. HORTON POINT LIGHTHOUSE & NAUTICAL MUSEUM (Lighthouse Road at Lighthouse Park on Long Island Sound)
For Further Information, contact:
Prince Building, 54325 Main Road
PO Box 1
Southold, NY 11971-0001
(631) 765-5500
This page designed by Diane Mancini, and maintained by Robert G. Müller, with information obtained from Cliff Benfield and the Southold Historical Society, Southold, New York. Photos Copyright ©1999 by Robert G. Müller.