About This Stamp
America’s lighthouses have been guiding mariners to safety for 300 years. Their styles, locations, and construction methods differ, but their purpose is the same: to light the way through treacherous waters. Recognizing our fascination with these historic structures, the U.S. Postal Service releases Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, the seventh issuance in the Lighthouse series.
Each stamp shows a close-up view of one of five lighthouses that captures not only the beauty of the tower but also the qualities that makes it unique. The late Howard Koslow (1924–2016) was the artist for these stamps and the previous issuances in the Lighthouse series. The stamps feature original acrylic paintings by Koslow based on photographs of the lighthouses. Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses were the last stamps he illustrated for the Postal Service.
Located in the Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis, Maryland, the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse has withstood the elements since 1875. The only cottage-style, screw-pile lighthouse in the country still intact and operating in its original location, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999.
Authorized by George Washington and completed in 1796, Montauk Point Lighthouse still stands in its original location. The lighthouse is the oldest in New York State and one of the oldest in continuous operation in the U.S., which earned it a designation as a National Historic Landmark in 2012.
The Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse stands at the mouth of the Delaware Bay near Lewes, Delaware. Its new tower, completed in 1926, stands on a cast-iron caisson supported on a heavy block of concrete that lies within the breakwater. The 76-foot-high conical lighthouse is built of cast-iron plates and is lined with bricks.
One of only seven stations in the country to feature two lighthouse towers, Navesink, in New Jersey, became the first light station in the U.S. to have Fresnel lenses installed. The current lighthouses were built in 1862 of local brownstone, and the keepers’ quarters and storage rooms link the two non-identical towers. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
At the east end of the channel leading to Presque Isle Bay, the Erie Harbor Pierhead Lighthouse has been guiding sailors for more than 150 years. Its design is unique; the tower tapers from its base to its midsection, then rises straight from there to the top, the only lighthouse tower with this shape in the U.S.
Greg Breeding was the art director.
The Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist
Howard Koslow
Howard Koslow was commissioned to do paintings that can be seen at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the National Air and Space Museum, and the NASA Art Gallery, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The National Park Service also commissioned him to create paintings for its historical art collections. Koslow's previous projects for the U.S. Postal Service include eight 1940s Celebrate The Century stamps (1999), four stamps featuring jazz/blues singers Mildred Bailey, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, and Bessie Smith (1994), and all of the stamps in the Lighthouse series: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Lighthouses (2021), Great Lakes Lighthouses (1995), Southeastern Lighthouses (2003), Pacific Lighthouses (2007), Gulf Coast Lighthouses (2009), and New England Coastal Lighthouses (2013). Koslow also designed a number of stamped cards including Carnegie Hall (1991), Ellis Island (1992), and the National Cathedral (1993). Howard Koslow died on January 25, 2016 at his home in Toms River, New Jersey. He was 91.