Billed as the only town in the United States where you can enjoy both the beauty of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, Cape Vincent is actually home to two lighthouses that helped mark the important transition from lake to river: Tibbetts Point Lighthouse (1854) and Cape Vincent Breakwater Lighthouse (1901).


In 1939, the intensity of the breakwater lights was increased by changing the illuminant from incandescent oil vapor to electricity and in 1951, the original wooden towers of the breakwater lighthouse were removed from the pier and replaced by white skeletal steel structures with tank houses.


Today, the surviving wooden tower stands beside Route 12E on the southern outskirts of Cape Vincent, now welcoming travelers arriving by land rather than by sea.