Mission
The mission of the Stepping Stones Lighthouse partnership is to restore, preserve and protect the Stepping Stones Lighthouse structure. Its preservation will provide a magnet for educational programs and tours, a focal point for historical research, an icon for promoting safe boating, and a location for monitoring the environmental health of Long Island Sound.
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The mission to restore the Stepping Stones Lighthouse, structurally and esthetically, is to honor its rich history and the role it played and continues to play in maritime safety. Just as Stepping Stones Lighthouse serves as a real and present beacon to those who ply its waters, it can also serve as an icon symbolizing the vital need for responsible, safe boating for all, whether commercial or recreational.
Through research, we will continue to learn more about Stepping Stones Lighthouse and the people who lived there guiding countless wayfarers away from the dangerous rocks strewn through the area. We will also expand our quest and learn more of the maritime history of Western Long Island Sound.
Through education, we will make its history come alive for young and old and promote safe boating practices.
The lighthouse, located near busy shipping channels, is situated in a good location for monitoring water quality, aquatic life, and migration patterns. There is great potential for university environmental research centers to collect data from the site.
Stepping Stones Lighthouse belongs to all of us. Already the mission to save it has forged a bond among communities on the North Shore of Long Island stretching across to City Island. It has brought about a public private partnership among the Great Neck Historical Society, the Great Neck Park District, the City Island Nautical Museum and the Town of North Hempstead.