During the 1940’s after the Coast Guard took over the administration of lighthouses, Esopus Meadows became a stag station with 3 crewman assigned.  In 1965 the decision was made to automate the station and an automatic light was erected on a pole near the lighthouse.  The lighthouse was boarded up and left to the destructive elements of weather and vandalism.  The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1979.