Today, Barnegat Lighthouse still stands at the northern tip of Long Beach Island, a symbol of hope and strength. But 100 years ago it was becoming a pawn in the battle between sentiment and progress.
As erosion threatened the tower, George R. Putnam, the commissioner in charge of the federal Lighthouse Bureau, favored abandoning it to its fate and replacing the light with a state-of-the-art lightship anchored 7 miles off Barnegat Inlet.
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