Atlantic City

Dr. Jonathan Pitney, who would one day be called the Father of Atlantic City, was acutely aware of the danger to mariners which existed along the beaches he regarded as otherwise beneficent. In 1820 this former scountry physician arrived in the Absecon area. He encouraged his patients and friends to take vacations in the area. By 1830 he had witnessed enough ship wrecks to realize a lighthouse was needed to assist the mariner. He began to petition for the beacon, and for the next 20 years his letters to the government fell on deaf ears.