In 1838, for the sum of $1.00, land was ceded to the US Government by the Town of Esopus to erect a lighthouse to warn mariners of the mud flats west of the town. Battered by flood tides and ice, the site was in ruinous condition by 1867. In 1870, funds were made available for a new structure. The foundation consists of 250 piles, 40 feet long, driven down into the river bed and cut off 3 feet below the water line. The piles were capped with 3 inch pine making a round pier 49 feet at the base and 46 feet at the top. The lighthouse keeper's dwelling is wood framed with a mansard roof.

Accessible only by water, it was a family station and had a keeper in residence. When the Coast Guard acquired the Lighthouse Service in 1939, keepers were replaced by Coast Guard personnel. The Lighthouse was closed in 1965, and an automated navigational aid installed on a pole outside the building. The Esopus Meadows Lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29th, 1979, and is nicknamed the "Mail of the Meadows.

In November, 2000, President Clinton signed into law a bill affecting the ownership of about 500 lighthouses across the nation, including the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse. This law set up a detailed process for transferring ownership of the lighthouses from the U.S. Coast Guard to new owners. Criteria for the selection of the new owners include firm respect of the Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for Historic Preservation, provision of a high degree of public access to the lighthouses, and the financial ability to meet the other guidelines.

Through this process, the ownership of the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse will be transferred from the Coast Guard to the Save Esopus Lighthouse Commission. The Save Esopus Lighthouse Commission was formed in the summer of 1990 for the purpose of restoring and preserving the lighthouse.