Yeah, Im confused, OP needs to provide more information.
@Vern_in_IL
I was thinking he was talking about the Ambroise Light Tower 10 ish miles outside of NY Harbor.
(edit) I dont think the OP is talking about this one, at least in the sense that it would never become a bed and breakfast.
We lived on the South Shore of Long Island and would exit the bay through Jones Inlet, head over to the tower for blue fishing and from there to the coast of New Jersey called the "Highlands"
The tower had a lot of instruments on it as well as radio beacons ... It was large, included an area for employees to exit a boat and climb up to the tower.
It directed the huge freighter traffic into NY Harbor. It was also a NOAA weather station and you could get wave heights and wind speeds from it.
We used that information frequently because even as teenagers at the time we had Small 18 to 20 foot runabouts and would head out into the Ocean Fishing, start out at sunrise while the water was calm.
Casting jigs around the tower was a surefire way to catch good size bluefish and as weather conditions permitted we would also head over to the New Jersey coast called the "Highlands" then from there at times the Cholera Banks which was south of Jones Beach. By 12 noon we would in most cases have to start heading in as the afternoon winds start picking up.
Kind of interesting, we did all this traveling about in the ocean, with no land in site using nothing but a compass and charts. No electronic aids, no GPS, cell phones did not exist, communication was marine radio for an emergency or contacting others. The marine radio did have the capability to call the NY Marine Operator who would place and connect you to a landline for calls. It wasnt a fast process though.
It really was a cool feeling, no land in site and nothing but ocean, at times your mind says you should be going the opposite way that the compass was telling you, you always followed the compass *LOL* sure enough at some point you would see the beaches of Long Island as you headed home. Though sometimes it was an hour or more before you did.
You also paid attention to the position of the sun, it was an automatic "thing" in case your compass ever for some reason broke, you could reasonably figure out which way was land. I think at some point I got a pocket compass as a back up.
Looking at the information below I didnt even know it was rebuilt. The Ambrose we fished around was the one in the photo that was built in 1967 (with the helicopter pad on it)
en.wikipedia.org