Navasink Twin Lights Lighthouse

The Twin Lights State Historic Site is located in Highlands New Jersey on the hill overlooking the Sandy Hook State Park. From this site you can see Long Island and Manhattan Island, New York, and much of the New Jersey coast. The current lighthouse was erected in 1862, however, the site has been the home of a lighthouse since the early 1700's.

During the construction of the present lighthouse in 1861, a cannon was found burried on the grounds. The cannon was placed just outside of the keeper's house and for a century was the mystery cannon of the twin lights. There are still unanswered questions about the gun, but this is known:

The cannon is a twelve-punder ships cannon of the third quarter, 17th century, and of Danish or Dutch manufacture. A comparable specimen, although an eight pounder, is in the Jelhutmuseet museum, Copenhagen, Denmark and was recovered from a 1679 shipwreck. The barrel is deeply incised with the markings "1756xx J*Lopez. The date and name led to speculation the gun was a priate's cannon. Subsequent research disproved this theory.

Joseph Lopez was keeper of twin lights lighthouse when the cannon was dug up. Obviously he inscribed his name on the barrel. In doing so, Lopez may have she some light on still another mystery. The first lighthouse at the Highlands was noted in Samuel Smith's book The History of New Jersey published in 1765. He wrote, "at the highlands of Navasink, the New York merchants have lately erected a commodious lighthouse for the security of navigation." Did "lately erected" mean 1756, the date Lopez inscribed on the barrel?

The mystery and purpose of the cannon remains unanswered.