West Pierhead Light

West Pierhead Light is a lighthouse in New York, at a modelled elevation of 75 m. Cuddeback Hill stands 184 m to the south-southwest, 21 miles off. The nearest named place is H. Lee White Marine Museum, a museum 0.6 miles away. Great Lakes Seaway Trail passes 1.2 miles off. 90 named places lie within 25 miles, 20 of them named summits.
The interior originally contained a fourth order Fresnel lens which was replaced in 1995. The original lens is currently housed nearby at the H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego.
The story
Oswego Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse is an active aid to navigation located off the coast of Oswego, New York. It was built in 1934 to replace an earlier light constructed in 1880. It stands at the end of a 2,000-foot-long (610 m) breakwater at mouth of Oswego River, extending one-half mile (0.80 km) out onto Lake Ontario. It is accessible by boat or from land over the abutting breakwater. It is open to the public for tours during the summer. It is owned by the City of Oswego and operated by the United States Coast Guard. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dates from 1880.
Wikidata Q7108231, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Built
- 1934
How to reach it
- 1.2 mi off the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, National
- 17.7 mi off the Revolutionary Trail
Overlooks nearby
- Meteorology Observation Deck · 2 mi
- Paid viewfinder · 27 mi
90 named places within 25 miles
- Wright's Landing: 0.7 mi
- Fort Ontario State Historic Site: 0.8 mi
- Lakeside Park: 0.8 mi
- Breitbeck Park: 0.9 mi
- Montcalm Park: 1.0 mi
- Gardner Hill: 2.6 mi
- Cornish Hill: 4.2 mi
- Bunker Hill: 4.9 mi
- Tug Hill: 5.6 mi
- Worden Hill: 5.7 mi
- H. Lee White Marine Museum: 0.6 mi
- U.S. Army - Tug LT-5: 0.6 mi
- Derrick Boat 8: 0.7 mi
- Safe Haven Museum: 0.9 mi
- Richardson-Bates House Museum: 1.4 mi
- Veterans Memorial Park: 1.1 mi
- Syracuse Northern Railroad bridge: 20.3 mi
- Oak Orchard Lock Wall: 24.0 mi
- Fort Brewerton: 24.7 mi
- Fort Brewerton Historic Site: 24.7 mi
- McIntyres Bluff: 10.2 mi
- Sitts Bluff: 11.2 mi
- The Bluffs: 11.4 mi
- Scotts Bluff: 17.2 mi
- Curtiss Gale Wildlife Management Area: 14.4 mi
- Altmar State Forest: 22.8 mi
- Sandy Creek State Forest: 24.0 mi
- Lakeview Wildlife Management Area: 24.1 mi
- Flat Rocks: 1.5 mi
- Stevenson Beach: 12.1 mi
- Herb Garden: 3.4 mi
- Sterling Renaissance Festival: 10.5 mi
- Wolcott Falls: 22.9 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of West Pierhead Light. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuddeback Hill | SSW 211° | 184 m | 20.8 mi |
| Bristol Hill | SE 135° | 154 m | 12.8 mi |
| Hogback Hill | SSW 210° | 147 m | 21.8 mi |
| Mullen Hill | E 99° | 144 m | 12.5 mi |
| Harris Hill | S 181° | 143 m | 12.5 mi |
| Honey Hill | SSE 159° | 136 m | 9.6 mi |
| Woodchuck Hill | SE 143° | 135 m | 17.1 mi |
| Worden Hill | SSE 166° | 131 m | 5.7 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:10 | 18:41 | 19:18 |
| June solstice | 05:26 | 20:07 | 20:51 |
| September equinox | 06:54 | 18:28 | 19:05 |
| December solstice | 07:37 | 15:46 | 16:33 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 25 | 27 | 34 | 45 | 57 | 66 | 72 | 70 | 63 | 52 | 41 | 31 |
| Precip in | 3.8 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.9 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Oswego, 2 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
National Register of Historic Places, reference 00001468OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidata- National Register of Historic Places — Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse, reference 00001468, listed 12/01/00.
OpenStreetMap element way/1039715556
Day trips start here
- Wolcott · 23 mi
- Sodus Point · 27 mi
- Weedsport · 29 mi
Take the scenic way to West Pierhead Light.
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