New Jersey’s Absecon Lighthouse v2.0
This mod is one in a series of United States Lighthouse created for MSFS 2020 as part of a larger American Lighthouse Project. It features New Jersey’s tallest, Absecon Lighthouse. This is a highly detailed, accurate model featuring night lighting*. The goal of the American Lighthouse Project is to create most of the major United States’ lighthouses, initially on the Atlantic coast, later on the Great Lakes and Pacific coast. The initial set focuses on the Mid-Atlantic region, from Virginia north to the tip of Long island. The first set includes this light (Absecon), Barnegat Light (published – link below), and Cape May Light, in Cape May NJ. Future lights include Assateague Light, located at the Assateague Island National Seashore just east of Chincoteague, VA, and the Twin Lights of Navesink, in the Highlands, NJ.
Since revolutionary war times, hundreds of ships had been wrecked on the Absecon and Brigantine Island beaches and shoals as they approached to land in Absecon or Reeds Bay. By 1840, with rising coastal and trans-Atlantic traffic, and the growth of Atlantic City, the U.S. Navy recognized the dangers the shifting sands of the barrier islands presented. Although a lighthouse was proposed several times, it would take another fifteen years before Congress passed a bill and construction would start.
Initially, the assignment went to Major Hartman Bache, but he was soon replaced by Lt. George Gordon Meade, an Army engineer and later a Union General in the American Civil War (victor of the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863). Work began in late 1854 and the first order light commissioned on January 15, 1857.
At 171 feet (52 m) Absecon is the tallest lighthouse in the state of New Jersey, the third-tallest masonry lighthouse in the United States, and fourth tallest in the U.S. overall. The lighthouse featured two light keeper’s houses, the main one which still stands, and a second keepers house since demolished, and an Oil house, also still standing. By the mid 1870’s, coastal erosion in the inlet had the waters lapping at the base of the tower. In 1876, work began building jetties to protect the light, but that effort came with an unforeseen result; where once there had been erosion, now the sand built up around the protective stone work ultimately leaving the light nearly 1000 feet inland, 3 city blocks from the inlet.
By the mid 1920’s ship traffic into Absecon Bay dwindled and the lighthouse was deactivated in 1933. Although the light still shines every night, it is no longer an active navigational aid. Indeed, it is even hard to see the light from most sea angles; where once it was the tallest structure on the Mid-Atlantic coast, today is it virtually lost in a canyon of condominiums and casino buildings that surround it. Refurbished in 1964, the lighthouse is a beloved Atlantic City landmark and remains open to the public and, for a small donation, one may climb to the watch room and external gallery.
The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic American Buildings Survey, and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.
The model was built in Cinema 4D R21 and prepared for MSFS 2020 in blender using the MSFS 2020 plugin.
To fully experience Atlantic City, it is highly recommended that the excellent mod by mbiebel872 be installed. It can be found here: https://www.allflightmods.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-2020/atlantic-city-skyline/
Barnegat Light can be found here: https://www.allflightmods.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-2020/msfs2020-scenery/new-jerseys-barnegat-lighthouse-v2-0/
*Note: at night there is some bleed through from the beacon light. This is a current limitation in the SDK. The initial release revision is 2.0
