As you stand at the base of LBI’s Barnegat Lighthouse it’s easy to visualize the danger it faced from advancing tides and storms. What you don’t see is the battle of wills that took place to keep the lighthouse standing.

In 1920 the ocean was within yards of toppling the tower. Local citizens raised money to begin constructing jetties in the hope of preventing it from falling. That summer George R. Putnam, head of the U.S.