Not many people associate Gloucester County with lighthouses, but it does have one in the Billingsport section of Paulsboro called the Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse. Located just south across the river from Philadelphia International Airport, the 145-year-old iron structure is still an active part of the U.S. Coast Guard range light navigational system along the Delaware River.
Range light systems consist of two separate light towers a significant distance apart, often along a river curve. A ship pilot steers a vessel into the “range” marked by the two lights. The first, or “front,” light of the range is physically lower than the distant second, or “rear,” light, which is higher. By maneuvering a vessel to get and keep the lights vertically aligned, the pilot can precisely guide it along the river’s central channel. This can be especially important for large, unwieldy, or deep-draft ships.
The primary purpose of the Paulsboro range lights is to guide vessels safely through the main channel around the southern shore of Little Tinicum Island in the middle of the river. Paulsboro’s black iron Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse is 1,000 yards upriver from the front, or entrance, light that sits atop a steel tower downriver.
An odd fact is that even thought the Tinicum Range Light system is physically located in the Billingsport section of Paulsboro, New Jersey, the U.S. Coast Guard officially lists it as being in Essington, Pennsylvania. The reason for this is that the Tinicum Range light system guides ships through the main channel that is located on the Pennsylvania side of the NJ/PA border in the middle of the Delaware River.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard Light List, the Tinicum Range lights are one of six such systems that still operate along the Delaware.
The others are:
- Liston Range, New Castle County, Delaware
- Deepwater Point Range, Deepwater, New Jersey
- Cherry Island Range, near Wilmington
- Marcus Hook Range, near Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
- PECO Eddystone Generating Station Range, near Eddystone, Pennsylvania
When it was originally built in the late 1800s, Paulsboro’s iron lighthouse sat in the middle of a farm where the lightkeeper lived in an adjacent farmhouse. His tasks included the manual upkeep and operation of the huge oil-fired lantern then used as a light. In 1917, the range lights were converted from oil-fired to electric; and by 1933 all functions had been automated and the last human lightkeeper retired. In later years, the farm structures around the lighthouse were torn down.
Today, the lighthouse is surrounded by a football field used by the Paulsboro High School football team and an associated Midget Football team; a soccer field used by various school and community groups; and three baseball fields used by the high school varsity and junior varsity baseball teams and the Paulsboro Little League.
The lighthouse’s interior spaces, which have been restored to their original condition, are open for visitor tours on the third Sunday of each month from April to October.
Located on the shore close to the front range light at Billingsport is the public park that commemorates the history of the area during the American Revolutionary War.
