The New Dorp Light, also known as the New Dorp Beacon or the Moravian Light, was once a sentinel to ships in New York Bay. Well situated on a commanding perch, the light was placed under the federal Lighthouse Service jurisdiction from 1856 to 1939, at which time it was acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard, who operated it until it was decommissioned in 1964. The architect used a simple vernacular design to build a utilitarian structure of a clapboard frame house with the square lighthouse tower rising from the center of the building.