• Fall gift basket
  • New project to focus on city's Asian community

    NJCH wordmark BThe Atlantic City Free Public Library has received a New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH) Community History Pilot Project award for $5,000. The library will utilize the funding for a project focusing on the history of Atlantic City’s Asian community, from the city’s inception in 1854 to present day. Read more about this project.
  • Atlantic City Library chosen to participate
    in Digital Navigation Corps

    NJ State Library LogoThe Atlantic City Free Public Library is one of six state libraries selected to participate in the Digital Navigation Corps, an initiative led by Literacy Minnesota to bring full-time AmeriCorps members organizations in high-need communities. The New Jersey State Library made the announcement in November 2024. Read more about this initiative.
  • Black Stories Matter Nov 2024
  • Childrens story times Nov Dec 2024 revised
  • Library work image for monitors and website Oct. 2024
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Lighthouse History

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Marker is located off of Pacific Avenue near the reconstructed Keeper's Dwelling at Absecon Lighthouse

Marker text:
The ocean waters off Absecon Inlet were considered some of the most deadly along the East Coast. Between 1847 and 1856, at least sixty-four ocean-going ships were lost off the coast of Absecon Beach. Dr. Jonathan Pitney, who promoted the development of Atlantic City, lobbied the federal government for a lighthouse as early as the 1830's. In the first ten months after Absecon Lighthouse was lit in 1857, not a single ship was wrecked. When built, the Lighthouse stood about 1200 feet from the ocean. Sand, seagulls, the smell of salt water and the flow of tides marked the days. The relentless pounding of the waves quickly eroded the coastline surrounding the beacon, bringing water onto the corner of the Lighthouse property by 1876. The construction of jetties reversed this process, and subsequent homes and hotels separated the Lighthouse from the sea, resulting in the landscape you see today.

The Lighthouse was also Atlantic City's beacon for tourists. Visitors flocked to the Lighthouse, making keepers as much tour guides as light tenders. Images of the Lighthouse graced postcards, plates, glasses and other souvenirs made for the seashore tourist trade.

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Absecon Lighthouse Facts

Constructed: 1855-1857
First lit: January 15, 1857
Decommissioned and light extinguished: July 11, 1933
Re-Lit: October 3, 1999
Tower height: 171 feet
Focal plane: 167 feet
Physical location: Latitude: 39° 21" 56" North
Longitude: 74° 24" 53" West
Type of construction: Double-walled conical brick and mortar tower with cast-iron spiral central staircase
Foundation materials: Stone foundation with a timber platform
Tower diameter: 27' at the bottom – tapers to 14'9" at the watch level
Number of steps: 228 to the watch level (12 more to the lantern room – for a total of 240 steps)
Daymark: Yellow with a black band
Original lighting: First-order Fresnel lens with Funck's mineral oil lamps
Present lighting: Original first-order Fresnel lens and electric lamp
Characteristic: Fixed beacon
Beacon range: 19.5 nautical miles
Original ancillary structures: Assistant Keepers' Dwelling, oil storage house, and various outbuildings
Current ancillary structures: Oil storage house
Owned by: The State of New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Parks and Forestry
Administered by: Inlet Public/Private Association (IPPA)

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