Twin Lights Shine On New U.S. Postal Service Stamp

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The five lighthouses featured in the new Mid-Atlantic series are Montauk Point, New York; Twin Lights; Erie Harbor, Pennsylvania; Harbor of Refuge, Delaware; and Thomas Point Shoal, Maryland. This is the last installment in the lighthouse series. Courtesy U.S. Postal Service

By Elizabeth Wulfhorst

HIGHLANDS – Email may be most people’s preferred means of communication now, but if you want to send a birthday or graduation card or pay a bill by mail, you still need a stamp.

With around 30,000 suggestions a year, the committee that chooses what that stamp will look like has a monumental task on its hands. According to Michael Henry, a stamp development specialist with the United States Postal Service, the citizen stamp advisory committee meets quarterly, sorting through all the submissions and making recommendations to the Postmaster General. The entire process, from discussions to the stamps’ unveiling, can take three to four years, Henry said, and the USPS issues 25 to 30 different stamp collections each year featuring a wide variety of topics or themes. A few of the most recent releases include stamps dedicated to tap dancing, Yogi Berra, the sun and “Star Wars” droids.

On Friday, Aug. 6, the USPS will present one of its newest themed stamp collections at a public event at Twin Lights, fitting because one of the stamps features the iconic lighthouse. The Mid-Atlantic Lighthouse Forever stamps, highlighting five lighthouses from Montauk to the Chesapeake Bay, are the last in a series of stamp collections that previously featured New England, Pacific Coast, Gulf Coast and other regional lighthouses. All the stamps in the series, which began in the 1990s, are based on the drawings of Howard Koslow, who lived in Toms River and died in 2016.

A postal service artist and renowned illustrator, Koslow commemorated America’s history, people and landmarks in over 60 stamps for the USPS, including the U.S. Constitution, jazz music greats and more.

Henry, who has the job of organizing the “first day of issue” ceremonies around the country for newly released stamps, said Twin Lights was a perfect choice for the event for a number of reasons.

“Two of the lighthouses (the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse in Delaware and the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Maryland) are in the middle of the water,” he noted, not suitable for a ceremony. “Another one is on Montauk, so good luck getting a hotel room in the Hamptons during the summer,” Henry joked.

Now based in Washington, D.C., Henry said he also chose Twin Lights because he is very familiar with the area. “The first house I ever owned was across the street from the old stone church (All Saints’ Memorial Church) on Navesink Avenue,” he noted. And while Aug. 7 is National Lighthouse Day, Henry said he planned the ceremony for Aug. 6 because “Friday was better than trying to get out to Navesink on a Saturday morning” in the summer.

“That’s where my knowledge of the Jersey Shore comes in,” he laughed.

Linda Malone, vice president of engineering systems for the U.S. Postal Service, is the dedicating official for event. Shawn LaTourette, the recently appointed commissioner of environmental protection for New Jersey will attend representing the state. The event, which be- gins at noon, will consist of a few speeches and the official unveiling of the artwork. Henry encourages everyone interested in stamps and lighthouses to come to the unveiling. He said they are excited the Twin Lights Museum has finally reopened to the public after being closed for over a year because of the pandemic.

Twin Lights is one of five historic lighthouses featured in the United States Postal Service’s new Mid-Atlantic Lighthouse Forever stamp collection, part of a series of lighthouse stamps dating to the mid-1990s. Courtesy U.S. Postal Service

“We’ve been talking to them for months and they haven’t been open but now they finally opened up,” he said. The museum is now open Wednesdays through Sundays with new exhibits, like an interactive Navigation Exhibit in the foyer of the South Tower which includes a sextant, compass and chronometer; one about the former Sandlass Beach Club, one of the most popular amusement areas in the late 1800s and early 1900s; and one about Highlands residents who have made a historic impact on the area through athletics, local industry and more. Entrance to the museum and the grounds is free. The USPS event is also free but registration is encouraged at about.usps.com/newsroom/events.

For those interested in going up in the towers to enjoy the stunning views of the Jersey Shore and New York, a nominal tower admission fee of $5 for adults and $2 for children 12 and under allows access to both the North and the South towers for the entire day, as often as you’d like to make the climb. Private tours are also available at $12 per adult; there is no charge for children under 10 when accompanied by an adult. Tours include stories of the events, people and materials that made the Twin Lights famous for almost two centuries, including Marconi’s wireless telegraph, the connection between the Pledge of Allegiance and the Twin Lights, and the Fresnel lens.

A museum store offers unique items, including shirts and mugs featuring the Twin Lights, books by local authors, jewelry, activities for children and more. Also available is the new log for stamping U.S. Lighthouse Passports.

The new exhibits were researched, designed and created by historians from the New Jersey State Park Service, the Twin Lights Historical Society and the Historical Society of Highlands. The state park service provided funding for the exhibits.

The Mid-Atlantic Lighthouse Forever stamps will be available for purchase at the Aug. 6 event and will go on sale the same day in all 30,000 post offices across the country. They are also available for pre-order online at usps. com. The stamps are “Forever” stamps, meaning they will always have sufficient value to cover the First-Class Mail 1-ounce price, even if that cost rises.

Twin Lights State Historic Site is located at 2 Lighthouse Road, Highlands.

This article originally appeared in the July 22 – 28, 2021, print edition of The Two River times.