Stratford Shoal Lighthouse Postcard

A vintage photograph of the Stratford Shoel (Middle Ground) Lighthouse located in the middle of Long Island Sound between New York and Connecticut. Stratford Shoal Lighthouse, completed in 1878, is a significant example of mid-nineteenth-century masonry lighthouse engineering and design. It was among the last water bound masonry lighthouses constructed in the United States before the U.S. Lighthouse Board switched to the use of cast-iron materials for such structures in the 1870s. Located on the treacherous "Middle Ground" shoal, the lighthouse played an important role in the Long Island Sound navigational system. Its construction represented a difficult engineering challenge that took several years to complete.