Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, the seventh installment in the popular Lighthouse series of stamps, was dedicated Aug. 6 at Twin Lights State Historic Site in Highlands, NJ.
The site is home to Navesink, one of the featured lighthouses.
Linda Malone, the Postal Service’s engineering systems vice president, spoke during the ceremony and said “it’s easy to see why” the subject matter is so appealing to collectors and customers.
“Lighthouses send a dual message of welcome and warning, of connection and isolation. They have come to symbolize solitude, service, history and hope.”
Malone was joined by Paul Eric Johnson, photographer and author of “Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast”; Peter McCracken, an expert in historical ships and a librarian at Cornell University; and Shawn M. LaTourette, a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner.
Navesink has seen many firsts. In 1841, its two towers were the first in the country to have light-concentrating Fresnel lenses installed; the Pledge of Allegiance had its first public reading there in 1893; and in 1899, Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless telegraph communication from the station.
The 1828 structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
“We are thrilled that the Twin Lights of the Navesink are featured on a Forever stamp, and that millions of people will be able to appreciate the beauty of a structure we are privileged to see every day in New Jersey,” LaTourette said.
The other beacons depicted on the stamps are Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay; New York’s Montauk Point Lighthouse; Delaware’s National Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse; and Erie Harbor Pierhead in Pennsylvania.
Greg Breeding was art director for the Forever stamps, with art by Howard Koslow, the artist for all the stamps in the series. The illustrations for Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses were Koslow’s last work for the Postal Service before his death in 2016.
