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Geographic coordinates: 41° 09' 07" N 73° 06' 12" W
Nearest city: Stratford. Located at the west side of the mouth of the Housatonic River.
Established: 1822. Present lighthouse built: 1881. Automated: 1970.
Height of tower: 35 feet. Height of focal plane: 52 feet.
Previous optic: Fourth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: VRB-25.
Characteristic: Two white flashes every 20 seconds.
The first lighthouse built here in 1822 was a 28-foot octagonal wooden tower. It was replaced by the extant 35-foot conical cast-iron tower in 1881, and the tower’s central red band was added in 1899.
Benedict Lillingston became keeper in 1868. His young granddaughter, Lottie, lived at the station. Lottie tended a flock of Spanish hens and helped with the gardening. During a bad storm in October 1871, Keeper Lillingston and his son, Frederick, left to aid a vessel in distress. Lottie was left alone with her invalid grandmother.
Lottie decided to check the light at about 10:30 p.m., knowing that a ferry was due to pass by. She found that the light had gone out. Acting quickly, Lottie stopped the rotating mechanism, lit a small brass lantern and hung it inside the lens. The ferry captain reported that the light was dim for a half hour. But without that dim light, the steamer might not have made it safely past Stratford Point.
Local native Theodore “Theed” Judson was keeper from 1880 to 1921. He earned the nickname “Crazy” Judson because of incidents like his 1886 sea serpent sighting. The monster was “easily 200 feet in length,” with whiskers that were “the rich deep green color of bog hay,” he told a reporter. In a 1915 article, Judson claimed he had seen mermaids off Stratford Point on a number of occasions. He almost caught one, he said, but she got away after making a hissing sound that “matched well to her temper.” His friends never got him to retract his fishy tale.
The station serves as housing for a Coast Guard family and is off limits to the public. You can get a partial view of the station from the gate at the end of Prospect Drive in Stratford. For good photo opportunities, you need a private boat or charter. These Web sites provide information on charter boats in the area: www.ctsportfishing.com and www.ct-fishing-charters.com.
Fascinating Fact 
Agnes Judson, a 17-year-old daughter of the keeper, swam out and rescued two fishermen in heavy seas in July 1897.
