Historic New York lighthouse vandalized and set on fire

A radical of 4 men broke into a historical New York lighthouse on the Hudson River, acceptable a occurrence and vandalized the interior, destroying invaluable antiques, furnishings and different items.

The Tarrytown Lighthouse successful Sleepy Hollow, built successful 1883 and present connected the National Register of Historic Places, had conscionable undergone a two-year, $3.4 cardinal renovation and reopened to the nationalist past fall, Westchester County officials said.

A region parks idiosyncratic saw fume coming from the conical, five-story lighthouse connected Saturday morning, past discovered the damage, region constabulary said. Police and firefighters responded and enactment retired a tiny occurrence with extinguishers.

The flooring connected the archetypal level was heavy damaged. Antiques, furnishings and different historically important items were destroyed. Thirty-five books dating to the 1800s and aboriginal 1900s were strewn connected the level and damaged. Multiple windows were broken.

County officials accidental determination is astatine slightest $100,000 successful damage, and they expect that fig to summation erstwhile an appraisal is complete.

“The Tarrytown Lighthouse is 1 of our County’s astir iconic and cherished landmarks,” County Executive Ken Jenkins said successful a statement. “This was a genuinely despicable act, and we volition bash everything we tin to place those liable and bring them to justice.”

County constabulary person posted surveillance photos connected their Facebook leafage showing 4 young men adjacent the lighthouse and are asking for the public's assistance successful identifying them. No arrests person been made.

As portion of the renovation, interior and exterior sections were restored and repainted. Windows were replaced and the operation stabilized. Repairs were made to the formed robust exterior and masonry. Wood floors were repaired and restored.

The occurrence burned astir each the mode done the woody archetypal floor, said Peter Tartaglia, archetypal lawman commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.

“It’s disturbing what happened,” helium said successful a telephone interrogation Wednesday. “But we’ll get it fixed. We’ll get it back. It was historically reconstructed and it’s a fantastic portion of history. It’s iconic successful Westchester County to spot that connected the Hudson River.”

The 60-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) lighthouse, owned by the county, opened successful 1883 to usher ships past unsafe shoals on that agelong of the river, according to the parks department. Its lantern could formed a beam of airy disposable for 10 miles (16 kilometers), and it had a doorbell that could pass mariners during foggy conditions, the section said.

During its 74 years of operation, 14 lighthouse keepers lived successful the structure, immoderate with their families. It was rendered obsolete erstwhile the erstwhile Tappan Zee Bridge was completed successful 1955 and taken retired of work successful 1961, officials said.

It's located astir 20 miles (32 kilometers) northbound of Manhattan successful a parkland successful the colony of Sleepy Hollow, made celebrated successful Washington Irving's 1820 communicative astir the Headless Horseman. It's 1 of 7 Hudson River lighthouses that remain.

The arson and vandalism comes a small much than a period aft a barge pushed by a tugboat struck the historical Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, astir 80 miles (129 kilometers) upriver from Tarrytown. The April 29 clang severely damaged the dock of the 151-year-old lighthouse, which advocates person been trying to prevention from crumbling into the river.

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Associated Press writer Michael Hill successful Albany, New York, contributed to this report.