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| June 08, 2026 |
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Official Town Site
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Revolutionary War Beacon Lights
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| A re-enactment of the bonfire beacons. |
If you go down to the riverfront shortly after 6 p.m., you will see large track lights pierce the evening air at Cornwall Landing and across the Hudson on Mount Beacon, part of a two-state tribute to the Revolutionary War signal troops who created beacons along the waterways to announce the evacuation of British troops in 1783. These beacons will also commemorate the centennial of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission's dedication and the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington utilized visual signals as a means of communication. The beacons were typically wooden towers filled with hay and dried grass 18 to 20 feet high. Upon notice of invading British troops, American soldiers would ignite the beacons, located on hill tops, in conjunction with a firing of a cannon and in daytime, the waving of a red and white flag as a warning notice to their fellow troops.
Today, the beacons will be represented by Xenon TrackSpots. These four-bulb searchlights will be programmed to light up the skies from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Twelve searchlights for this commemoration will stretch for 108 miles between Beacon, New York, and Princeton, New Jersey, with five located in the former and seven in the latter state. The beacon projects in both 2008 and 2009 relied on the expertise and coordination of Emmy Award-winning lighting designer Deke Hazirjian, Josh Wachsman, Kris Seiz and Deke's company, New York City Lites.
In New York, the ceremonial lightings will start at Fort Montgomery State Historic Site at 6:00 pm (viewable from the Bear Mountain Bridge), then move to Boscobel at 6:05 p.m., to Constitution Island at 6:10 pm, , Cornwall-on-Hudson Landing at 6:15 pm and Mount Beacon at 6:20 pm. Celebrate the history associated with 2009 by observing any of the beacon sites this Wednesday, November 25, as you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving.
The beacon event is also part of the New York's Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial series. 2009 marks the dual 400th anniversaries of the voyage of English Captain Henry Hudson, who led (for the Dutch) the first European expedition to sail up the river that now bears his name, and Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, the first European to gaze upon the waters of the namesake lake. To celebrate these simultaneous quadricentennials – as well as the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton's maiden journey up the Hudson River on the first successful steamboat, the North River – New York State and its many communities have been hosting a year-long series of events. The beacons will mark Hudson's and Fulton's passages through the Hudson Highlands. For more information on the celebration of New York's 400 years of history, look for the Hudson River Valley Institute's commemorative Quadricentennial edition of the Hudson River Valley Review. In September, the Institute hosted the "New York's 400 Years, a Quadricentennial Conference" and broadcasted it over the Web. To learn more on how to secure a copy of the Review, call (845) 575- 3052 or visit www.hudsonrivervalley.org/review/. To view sessions of the Quad conference on the Web visit www.hudsonrivervalley.org and click on the conference webcast icon.
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