It is situated on an 85-foot (26 m) bluff overlooking Raritan Bay with an attached brownstone cottage which served as the lightkeeper's house.

The bluffs are part of the southern terminal moraine formed by the Wisconsin Glacier which receded 10,000 years ago.

Loretto, a Catholic orphanage founded by Father John Christopher Drumgoole, purchased the lighthouse, the cottage and an additional outbuilding in 1926.

The United States government paid $32 per year to lease the small parcel of land from the mission.

The lighthouse cottage currently serves as the residence for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Ranger Police Officer.