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Geographic coordinates: 41° 07' 00" N 73° 13' 18" W
Nearest town: Fairfield. Located on a dangerous reef in Long Island Sound, near the border between Fairfield and Bridgeport.
Established: 1874. Present lighthouse built: 1874. Automated: 1971.
Height of tower: 35 feet tall. Height of focal plane: 51 feet.
Previous optic: Fourth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: VRB-25.
Characteristic: Red flash every 6 seconds. Fog signal: One blast every 15 seconds.
This handsome building, with its mansard roof and Second Empire details, is very similar to several other lighthouses built around the same time, including one fairly close by in Bridgeport Harbor. It’s perhaps best known as one of New England’s most haunted lighthouses.
Three days before Christmas in 1916, keeper Fred Jordan set out for the mainland in one of the station’s small boats so that he could bring his handmade Christmas presents to his family. The seas were growing increasingly rough, and assistant keeper Rudolph Iten watched helplessly from the lighthouse as Jordan struggled against the gale. The keeper’s boat capsized, and his lifeless body was later recovered.
Iten later told a reporter that a few days after Jordan’s drowning, he observed a “gray, phosphorescent figure” emerge from the room formerly occupied by Jordan. The figure passed silently to the stairs and disappeared in the darkness below. Iten claimed that other keepers also saw the ghost and that they were all prepared to sign an affidavit to that effect.
Ghostly sightings at Penfield Reef have been reported periodically. Clark Ellison, one of the light’s last Coast Guard keepers, says he heard disembodied footsteps coming slowly up the creaky stairs on more than one occasion. The first time, he and another crewman hunted in vain for the source of the sound, but after that, they “did not get up to seek the ghost in person.”
In 1969, the Coast Guard announced plans to replace the lighthouse with a light on a simple pipe tower. Local residents and politicians objected, and the plan was scrapped. After its automation and destaffing in 1971, the building developed some structural problems. The Coast Guard installed a new stainless steel lantern roof in 2003 along with other renovations.
In 2008, under the provisions of the National Lighthouse Preservation Act, the National Park Service announced that ownership of Penfield Reef Lighthouse would be conveyed to Beacon Preservation, Inc., (www.beaconpreservation.org). At this writing, a dispute over the submerged lands under the lighthouse has thrown the ownership situation into confusion, and it appears the lighthouse will revert to the federal government for an auction to the general public.
Fascinating Fact 
Penfield Reef was once a peninsula that supported the grazing of cows. The land wore away until only a jagged reef was left.
Penfield Reef Light can be seen distantly from Fayerweather Island, at the end of Seaside Park in Bridgeport. Better views are available from regular harbor cruises aboard the 40-foot former Navy launch Chief, leaving Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport. See www.captainscoveseaport.com/cruises.htm or call 203-335-1433 for information.
SIDE TRIP: Captain’s Cove Seaport
Since opening in 1982, Captain’s Cove Seaport, located on historic Black Rock Harbor in Bridgeport, has grown into a very popular maritime and amusement center. There are charming shops built to look like a New England seaport village, a 400-seat restaurant, and Club Titanic. There are music events and festivals, and you can take a harbor cruise from here that includes views of the Penfield Reef and Fayerweather Island lighthouses.
Captain’s Cove Seaport
1 Bostwick Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06605
Phone: 203-335-1433
Web site: www.captainscoveseaport.com.
