Want to see the view from top of Barnegat Lighthouse without climbing? Here’s how

BARNEGAT LIGHT - The spectacular views that comes from climbing the 217 spiral steps of Old Barney are to be available without the physical effort.

More than a year after the famous Jersey Shore beacon closed for a $1.3 million renovation project, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Tuesday that it will soon begin streaming the breathtaking sights from the top of Barnegat Lighthouse to the world at large.

Rebecca Fitzgerald, state park service administrator, said live images from cameras that have been added to the top of the 164-year-old lighthouse — which can now only be seen on a closed-circuit monitor at the visitor center — will be available to anyone with an Internet connection.

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“We will be streaming the cameras' view live on our website, so the view can be seen across the world,” Fitzgerald said, without revealing a specific timeline. “So, we’re really excited about that.”

The live stream will be available at the DEP’s website at www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/.

Barnegat Lighthouse reopened to the public this past Saturday after the 172-foot-tall, 19th-century beacon on the northern tip of Long Beach Island underwent a refit that had kept it closed to the public since March 2022.

For more than a year, the structure was treated to a complete exterior restoration, with masonry recoating and repairs to the brick facade, repairs to its interior lantern steel platform, fixes to the roof, interior painting and the installation of new windows, according to the DEP.

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After being decommissioned from official maritime service in 1927, Barnegat Lighthouse had previously remained dark for more than 80 years until a little more than a decade ago. On Jan. 1, 2009, exactly 150 years after its original lighting on that date in 1859, the nonprofit Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park installed a new beacon to much fanfare and public interest.

Just last year, the group donated a new light from Austria — which when ablaze at night — can be seen for more than 20 miles as it rotates in every direction. The new light was switched on at the 10th anniversary of superstorm Sandy last year.

Constructed in 1856, this national historic site has become a quintessential symbol of the Shore, particularly in Ocean County where it’s at the center of its official flag.

Mark Texel, administrator of historic sites for the State Park Service, said there had been some form of lighthouse on the site since 1834 due to the dangerous nature of the local shoals and the need to warn passing sailors to keep away.

The existing lighthouse — affectionately called “Old Barney” by the locals — was designed by Major General George Meade, who a decade later would go on to command the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg, Texel explained. Meade also came up with similar plans for the Absecon and Cape May lighthouses along the coast.The original 19th-century Fresnel lens was imported from France and was powered by oil. While the 21st century light is still a Fresnel lens, it's a much smaller and more efficient version of its original ancestor, and powered by electricity.

“In 1926, this lighthouse and the keeper’s house (which did not survive the 20th century) were donated to the state of New Jersey, and then plans were made to extinguish the light,” Texel said. “So at that point, the light was extinguished, the lens was removed and the light was dimmed.”

During World War II, the lighthouse was commandeered by the federal government and used as a lookout tower to spot enemy ships off the coast, he explained.

Barnegat Lighthouse reverted back to the ownership of the state in 1946 and became part of the state park system in 1957.

When the light in Old Barney was restored in 2009 for the first time in more than 80 years, it cost $15,000. The new 2022 light has cost $24,000, which the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse privately raised to foot the bill. The light was also approved by the Coast Guard, which still has legal jurisdiction over any operating lighthouses on U.S. territory.

Before the latest restoration work began, periodic lightning strikes had damaged the electrical infrastructure inside the lighthouse after a single lightning rod wire on its roof became disconnected to its ground rod.

There are now at least two rods on the roof and seven around the edge of the structure to better distribute the strikes; each can produce up to 300 million volts of electricity.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Barnegat Lighthouse: Livestream views from Old Barney