Through a true community effort, the Sodus Bay Historical Society opened the doors of the Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum on July 4, 1985.  This museum is one of the most frequently visited attraction in Wayne County, New York, receiving over 20,000 visitors from all over the world each year! In 1976, the Lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Plan a visit to our beautiful and historic lighthouse, volunteer to help us in the museum, join us as a member of the Sodus Bay Historical Society, or donate to our efforts to save this treasured building.

Click on the following link to see a beautiful early morning lighthouse drone video:

On May 26, 1824, Congress approved a lighthouse located on Sodus Bay in Sodus Point, NY. Building costs were estimated to be $4500.00 and the government allotted that amount for the building of the lighthouse.

A publicly approved parcel of land was purchased from William Wickham for $68.75 and that is where the original Sodus Bay Light was built in 1825. It was of conical construction and was equipped with all of the necessities that a lighthouse of that time frame would need.

In 1868 an inspection of the lighthouse showed many infirmities and other problems like leaky roofing and poor walls. This spelled the end of the original Sodus Bay Lighthouse.

Congress again appropriated money to build a lighthouse at Sodus Bay, this time to the tune of $14,000. The lighthouse is of the square-integral type made of limestone mined at the Kingston quarries. It is equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens. After the new tower was completed on June 30, 1871, the old tower from 1825 was demolished.

The stone from it was used to build a jetty to protect the shoreline in front of the new lighthouse. The new lighthouse was very similar to the lighthouse at Stony Point, also on the Great Lakes.

The lighthouse was discontinued and the lens was removed in 1901.

In 1976 the lighthouse was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. In 1984 the lighthouse was given to the Town of Sodus and during the next year the bank in front of the lighthouse was rebuilt to retard erosion of the land around the lighthouse.

In 1988 the Fresnel lens was returned to the tower. Today the  lighthouse serves as a Maritime Museum run and maintained by the Sodus Bay Historical Society. The Lighthouse is located at 7606 North Ontario Street in Sodus Point.

In October 2023, a new mural (see above photo) was created on the wall of the 2nd floor.  It depicts our shoreline from Chimney Bluff to Freedom Hill and highlights our area's involvement in the Underground Railroad. A unique feature of the mural is incorporating two windows looking out at the Lake into the mural. It was painted by James Zeger.

by Bruce Farrington (6 September 2011)