Celebrate Manhattan’s last remaining lighthouse at the annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival this weekend, a FREE family-friendly event that includes lighthouse tours and readings of the popular children’s book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, that made the Little Red Lighthouse world famous.
The Great Gray Bridge it sits under, of course, is the great George Washington Bridge, linking Manhattan with New Jersey.
The Little Red Lighthouse Festival also features Urban Park Ranger educational presentations, fishing clinics, live music, food vendors, and activities for the whole family. Walk-up/walk-down visits are available first come first serve. Wear comfortable and sturdy shoes – no flip flops to climb the circular stairs.
Did we say it’s FREE. Yes, we did.
The Little Red Lighthouse Festival is noon to 4pm on Saturday, Sept. 25, rain or shine, so let’s hope for shine.
Entrances to the festival are from the street at 181st Street or 156th Street, with a walk to the little red lighthouse under the bridge, in Ft. Washington Park. There is no shuttle service scheduled for this year.
Schedule of Activities
Noon to 12:30pm. – LRL Musical – Jessica Ann Carp
12:45pm. to 1pm – Urban Park Rangers presentation
1pm to 2pm – Big Apple Marching Band
2:15pm to 3pm – Reading of the The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
2:25pm. to 2:50pm – Urban Park Rangers presentation
2:50pm to 3:30pm – Jake Tavill blues band
3:30pm to 4pm – Reading of the The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
A brief history of the Little Red Lighthouse, whose official name is Jeffrey Hook Lighthouse: It was built in 1880, and sat watch off Sandy Hook until being moved to the Hudson River to warn ships about the rocky outcropping where it is now located. It was decommissioned in 1947, a few years after it became the hero of the children’s book, and was supposed to be torn down and sold for scrap. Luckily, a group of scrappy New Yorkers saved it and refurbished it for us all to enjoy.
The Little Red Lighthouse is administered jointly by the NYC Historic House Trust and by the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation.
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