[8] The lighthouse is located on Stratford (or Middleground) Shoal which is a little over a mile in diameter and as little as nine feet below mean lower low water.

[9] The shoal was first marked for navigation in 1820 by a pair of spar buoys placed on its north and south ends.

The lightship was anchored off the southeastern edge of Stratford Shoal on January 12, 1838;[11] just eight days later, it drifted off its station.

It was dragged from its station by ice more than half a dozen times, most notably in 1875 when it ran aground at Orient Point, and in 1876 when it drifted to Faulkner Island.

It is similar to some Hudson River lighthouses, and "embodies the enormous cost and heroic effort required to put these designs in place in the treacherous waters of Long Island Sound.