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Cape May NJ Lighthouse


NGS Surveyor

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This past weekend my wife and I visited Cape Map, NJ. While there we climbed to the top of the Cape May Lighthouse - all 199 steps. This Lighthouse is significant because it was the eastern most point of the 39th Parallel Survey (also called the Transcontinental Arc of Triangulation) conducted by the USC&GS from c1870 to c1899. I asked if the top of the Lighthouse has ever been rebuilt and was told no, so it is the original surveyed point. Here are some photos:

 

 

 

Two photos show the LH, one shows the Village of Cape May in the distance, and the last shows some surveyors doing beach profiles below the LH. The view from the top is something like the view from the top of a Bilby Tower. It reminded me how hard it is sometimes to pick out distance towers out at the horizon. Here is a sketch from USC&GS Special Pub #4, showing the eastern end of the triangulation . The four eastern most stations are all on lighthouses.

 

GeorgeL

NGS

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