# 5622 - 2021 First-Class Forever Stamp - Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses: Navesink Twin Lighthouse, New Jersey

US #5622
2021 Navesink Twin Lighthouses – Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses – American Lighthouses Series

• One of five stamps picturing the last lighthouse illustrations made by renowned stamp artist Howard Koslow for the USPS
• Part of the popular Lighthouses stamp series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses
Series:  American Lighthouses
Value:  55¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue:  August 6, 2021
First Day City:  Highlands, New Jersey
Quantity Issued:  40,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Panes of 20
Tagging:  Phosphor, block tag

Why the stamp was issued:  To celebrate the beauty and history of Navesink Twin Lighthouses lighthouse in the state of New Jersey.

About the stamp designs:  Pictures an illustration by Howard Koslow of one of the Navesink Twin Lighthouses in New Jersey.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony took place at the Twin Lights Historic Site in Highlands, New Jersey.

About the Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses set:  Includes five stamp designs picturing illustrations by Howard Koslow of a different Mid-Atlantic lighthouse:  Thomas Point Shoal, Maryland;  Montauk Point, New York;  Harbor of Refuge, Delaware;  Navesink, New Jersey;  and Erie Harbor Pierhead, Pennsylvania.  Koslow was also the artist for past issues of the Lighthouse series.  The mid-Atlantic lighthouses were the last illustrations he created for the Postal Service.

About the American Lighthouses Series:  The American Lighthouses Series began in 1990, with each stamp design picturing artwork created by Howard Koslow for the USPS.  Each set has represented a different geographic region of the United States.  This series honors the historic importance and beauty of our nation’s lighthouses as well as the value of preserving them for generations to come. 

The following regions were represented in the years indicated below:

1990 – Washington state, North Carolina, Maine, Florida, and New Jersey (US #2470-74)
1995 – Great Lakes (US #2969-73)
2003 – Southeastern (US #3787-91)
2007 – Pacific Coast (US #4146-50)
2009 – Gulf Coast (US #4409-4795)
2013 – New England (US #4791-95)
2021 – Mid-Atlantic (US #5621-25)

History the stamp represents:  The Navesink Twin Lights are a pair of beacons in New Jersey overlooking Sandy Hook Bay and the entrance to New York Harbor from the Atlantic.

The first Navesink Twin Lights were constructed of blue split stone and were set 320 feet apart.  Each tower was built in the shape of an octagon, and the keeper’s dwelling was built in the center of the two towers.  In the beginning, the north light featured a fixed white light, while the south tower featured a flashing white light.  In 1841, the Navesink Twin Lights became the first in the United States to be equipped with a Fresnel lens.  The north tower was given a first-order fixed lens, while the south tower was given a second-order revolving lens.

The early Navesink Twin Lights eventually became too run down for continued use, and two new towers were constructed in 1860.  The new castle-like structure was built of brownstone and consisted of an octagonal north tower and square south tower 228 feet apart with the keeper’s residence in between.  There was also space allocated for keeper’s assistants to live.  On June 30, 1898, Navesink became the first coastal light to use electricity – it was also the most powerful in the country at that time.

Navesink Twin Lights were retired from service in 1949, but can still be visited by the public today.