Historic New York lighthouse was vandalized and set on fire

A group of four men broke into a historic New York lighthouse along the Hudson River, set a fire and vandalized the interior, destroying valuable antiques, furniture and other items.

The Tarrytown Lighthouse in Sleepy Hollow, built in 1883 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, had just undergone a two-year, $3.4 million renovation and reopened to the public last fall, Westchester County officials said.

A county parks worker saw smoke coming from the conical, five-story lighthouse on Saturday morning, then discovered the damage, county police said. Police and firefighters responded and put out a small fire with extinguishers.

The flooring on the first level was heavily damaged. Antiques, furniture and other historically significant items were destroyed. Thirty-five books dating to the 1800s and early 1900s were strewn on the floor and damaged. Multiple windows were broken.

County officials say there is at least $100,000 in damage, and they expect that number to increase when an assessment is complete.

“The Tarrytown Lighthouse is one of our County’s most iconic and cherished landmarks,” County Executive Ken Jenkins said in a statement. “This was a truly despicable act, and we will do everything we can to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”

County police have posted surveillance photos on their Facebook page showing four young men near the lighthouse and are asking for the public’s help in identifying them. No arrests have been made.

As part of the renovation, interior and exterior sections were restored and repainted. Windows were replaced and the structure stabilized. Repairs were made to the cast iron exterior and masonry. Wood floors were repaired and restored.

The fire burned nearly all the way through the wooden first floor, said Peter Tartaglia, first deputy commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.

“It’s disturbing what happened,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “But we’ll get it fixed. We’ll get it back. It was historically reconstructed and it’s a wonderful piece of history. It’s iconic in Westchester County to see that on the Hudson River.”

The 60-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) lighthouse, owned by the county, opened in 1883 to guide ships past dangerous shoals along that stretch of the river, according to the parks department. Its lantern could cast a beam of light visible for 10 miles (16 kilometers), and it had a bell that could warn mariners during foggy conditions, the department said.

During its 74 years of operation, 14 lighthouse keepers lived in the structure, some with their families. It was rendered obsolete when the former Tappan Zee Bridge was completed in 1955 and taken out of service in 1961, officials said.

It’s located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Manhattan in a park in the village of Sleepy Hollow, made famous in Washington Irving’s 1820 tale about the Headless Horseman. It’s one of seven Hudson River lighthouses that remain.

The arson and vandalism comes a little more than a month after a barge pushed by a tugboat struck the historic Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) upriver from Tarrytown. The April 29 crash severely damaged the dock of the 151-year-old lighthouse, which advocates have been trying to save from crumbling into the river.

____

Associated Press writer Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.