New York's Seaway Lighthouses

Along the New York shores of the 500-mile long Seaway Trail, from Ogdensburg, to Barcelona, New York, are twenty-three lighthouses. These lighthouses are each unique in architecture and history. Some were built to welcome ships into a busy harbor; others built to warn mariners of rocky shoals or islands.

New York’s Seaway Lighthouses” visits each light along the trail, seeking out interesting stories and giving a brief history of each light. Beautiful scenic aerial and land video and historic pictures accompany each story to create a fast-paced, exciting documentary. The region’s first lights were constructed at ports of entry such as Buffalo or Charlotte, at the mouths of major rivers (Fort Niagara and Tibbets Point), or at important harbors like Oswego and Sodus Bay. Others took up the task of protecting ships from peril at more remote locations such as Braddock and Thirty Mile Point, where lives and fortunes had been lost in several shipwrecks.

Whether protecting ships from peril or marking the entrance to a port, a lighthouse was always a welcome sight to the sea-weary mariner.

The documentary probes the stories behind when and why these lighthouses were built, the functions they served, and the people who spent their lives keeping the lights burning. Viewers will learn about the ships that depended upon them, the harbors they protected, and the dangers they marked.

The lighthouses along the Seaway Trail have provided the backdrops for numerous historical events and enticing tales of terrific storms and shipwrecks.