Massachusetts - Fort Pickering Lighthouse

The Fort Pickering Lighthouse is located at Salem, MA. It served as an official aid to navigation for only a quarter of a century. It is one of three lighthouses built in an around Salem during the early 1870's. Its conical tower and ten-sided lantern stands atop a concrete base. The cast-iron tower, brick-lined inside, was originally painted brown and connected to shore by a white bridge. As shipping declined in the late 19th century, usefulness of the light diminished, and its use was discontinued in 1897. The tiny tower, since painted white, is all that remains of the station. The keeper's house, service buildings, and footbridge have all been removed. At the time of my visit in 1997, the light, then solar-powered, was operated by the City of Salem as a private aid to navigation.

Massachusetts - Marblehead Lighthouse

This lighthouse is located at Marblehead, MA. The original station here in 1835 consisted of a brick tower, only 20 feet tall, and a nearby keeper's dwelling. Between the two was a 100-foot covered walkway. By 1880 sizable shore-front cottages had sprung up around the point, and they all but obscured the beacon to vessels approaching from the south. As a remedy, the Lighthouse Board erected a 100-foot mast between the tower and house, and rigged it with an auxiliary lantern light. Mariners complained that the new arrangement was unsatisfactory.

In 1896, the Board built this permanent structure, a square pyramidal iron tower, unlike any other New England lighthouse. Standing 130 feet tall, the brown skeleton-like structure surrounds a central cast-iron cylinder whose 105 steps spiral up to the black lantern room deck.

The Coast Guard, in 1948, made preliminary plans to do away with the light station and tear down the tower. Instead, they sold the structure and surrounding grounds to a local citizen, who donated it to the town of Marbelhead. At the time of my visit here in 1997, the area was part of the Chandler Hovey Park.

Massachusetts - Scituate Lighthouse

This lighthouse is located at Scituate, MA. The Lighthouse Service contracted for a 24-foot octagonal granite tower, backed with rubblestone, at the north side of the entrance to Scituate Harbor in 1811. The new light soon caused as much confusion as it provided help to the mariners. Skippers spied Scituate's fixed white signal, thinking they were approaching the Boston Light. To differentiate the two stations, the US Lighthouse Service officials added a 14-foot section of brick work to elevate Scituate's Light. Then they installed a second beacon, fixed red, in the east side of the tower wall. But the crimson beam was feeble, and from any appreciable distance offshore the two colors blended into one. The ship wrecks continued. The solution lay in the construction of the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse. As soon as the spindle legged Minot's went into service, Scituate Light was turned off. But when the former went down in the great storm of 1851, the Scituate beacon was reestablished and remained lit until the replacement structure for Minot's was finished in 1860.

The Scituate Lighthouse was put up for sale in 1916 and purchased by the Town of Scituate the following year. After providing periodic maintenance to both the tower and keeper's house, civic leaders made the Scituate Historical Society the light's caretaker in 1968. That same year the organization succeeded in having the treasured landmark added to the National Register of Historic Places, and later the light relighted as a private light. At the time of my visit here in 2001, this was an active lighthouse.

A special note about the 1811 Scituate Lighthouse. Simon Bates was the initial keeper. During the War of 1812, Bates' two daughters, Rebecca and Abigail, by themselves, saved the town from possible destruction at the hands of a British warship. In September 1814, the man of war La Hogue anchored and several boatloads of soldiers put off for shore. Watching the enemy movement from the tower, the Bates girls, alone at the station, sprang into action. Grabbing a drum and fife, the children dashed into nearby cover and began playing with all the gusto they could muster. The shrill notes and rhythmical beat soon reached the ears of the startled British commander, who must have surmised that American troops were marshaling to meet his landing party. He promptly sounded a signal ordering his long-boats back to the ship. The La Hogue sailed away, the town was spared, and the Bates girls have since been fondly remembered by towns people as "The American Army of Two". Although the name Bates is synonymous with mine, research did not reveal any relationship to Simon Bates.

Massachusetts - Derby Wharf Lighthouse

The Derby Wharf Lighthouse is located at Salem, MA.  A portion of the old Salem waterfront, encompassing a remarkable cluster of working waterfront buildings and wharves, has been designated a National Historic Maritime Site. Within that district is 18th century Derby Wharf, extending a half-mile into the South River on the northwest side of Salem's inner harbor. The earth and stone landing dates from before Revolutionary war days and is the last of some 50 wharves that once dominated the waterfront.

At the end of the pier stands the windowless Derby Wharf Lighthouse, built in 1871. It is a square squat 25-foot tall brick structure housing a fixed red light. Because the lighthouse stood in a busy urban area, the federal government saw no need to provide living quarters for a keeper. Instead, the beacon was tended by a lamplighter.

After the light was shut down in 1977, jurisdiction was conveyed to the National Park Service. For several years the derelict structure suffered from vandalism and neglect. Later it was rescued and restored by the nonprofit group "The Friends of Salem Maritime." They were also responsible for having a new solar-powered optic installed in the tower and lighted in 1983 as a private aid to navigation. At the time of my visit in 2001, this was still an active lighthouse.

Massachusetts - Boston Lighthouse

The Boston Lighthouse is located at Boston, MA. It is North America's oldest lighthouse and has been in service over 295 years - 370 since the first beacon was lit in 1641. The venerable structure is located about 9 miles from downtown Boston. It is situated on the southeast side of Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor.

The original tower was built of granite blocks in 1716 and contained a wooden interior. Fire partially damaged the structure in 1751. Then, during the American Revolution, the tower was blown up by the British. It was rebuilt of rubble masonry to a height of 66 feet in 1783, and reinforced with wrought iron bands, "to prevent its walls from bulging out and falling to pieces." Over the years, constant bouts with moisture so weakened the structure that it was given a major restoration in 1859. The inside was lined with brick and an additional 15 feet was added to its height. Today, the conical white shaft beams a flashing white light from 102 feet above sea level. Boston Lighthouse forms the centerpiece of the seal of the nearby Town of Hull. In 1989, Congress declared Boston Lighthouse would be permanently manned. It is the only station in the country afforded this status. More recently, Little Brewster Island has become part of Boston Islands State Park. While the Coast Guard continues operating the light station, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts intends to provide interpretive exhibits and public access to the island. This lighthouse was active and manned by the Coast Guard at the time of my visit in 2001.

Massachusetts - Minot's Ledge Lighthouse

The Minot's Ledge Lighthouse is located off-shore at Cohasset, MA. This lighthouse was the nation's first lighthouse to be constructed on an exposed, off-shore spot, a ledge fully submerged at high tide.

The first Minot Ledge Lighthouse was built in 1850 and stood on nine steel piles, supporting a keeper's quarters and lantern room that reached 75 feet above the sea. The light barley survived 15 months before a furious 1851 storm toppled it into the sea and claimed the lives of two assistant keepers. Work began on the replacement in 1855, and over the next five years crews constructed a rugged 97-foot shaft of gray granite blocks, dovetailed together and fastened with steel pins. The foundation stones, securely bolted to the underlying ledge, were laid on a carefully prepared bed fully two feet below the low tide mark. The first 20 courses, to a height of 40 feet, were solid stone. The next 20 encompassed the light keeper's living area, work space, and storerooms. The lighthouse was activated in 1860, and the remarkable engineering effort has been hailed as the greatest in the history of lighthouse construction. The tower has firmly withstood the ocean's direct assault ever since, despite the fact waves sometimes engulf the entire structure and break cleanly over the top.

In 1894, the Minot Ledge beacon was altered from a fixed white light to flashing, with a 1-4-3 sequence that local residents have traditionally called the "I love you" lighthouse. The light was automated in 1947 and has operated on solar power since 1983. This was still an active lighthouse at the time of my visit in 2001.  It sets far enough offshore that I used a 500mm lens in order to capture this picture.

Massachusetts - Plymouth Lighthouse

The Plymouth Lighthouse is located at Plymouth, MA. It stands at the southern tip of a sandy peninsula known since Pilgrim days as "The Gurnet." (The word "gurnet" derives from a fish of the same name and plentiful along the Devonshire coast of England.) It was the site of the first "twin light" station in today's United States. John and Hannah Thomas owned the land where the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established the two lighthouses in 1768, essentially a small wooden house with a lantern attached to either end of the roof. John, and later his widow, operated the station for several years, giving Hannah the distinction of being the country's first female light keeper.

Both wooden towers were destroyed by a fire in 1801. They were temporarily replaced by a single beacon, while a second set of towers, 30 feet apart, were built in 1803. These, in turn, were superseded in 1842 with a pair of 34-foot pyramidal ones, used also as range lights to clear Browns Bank. In the 1920s, the Bureau of Lighthouses concluded its push to do away with twin-light stations. Plymouth's northeast tower was deactivated in 1924 and taken down. The southern light, shown above, was automated in 1986 and since operates on solar power. In December 1998, the Coast Guard relocated the lighthouse further back from the edge of the eroding dune. At the time of my visit in 2001, this lighthouse was active. In order to get this picture I used a 500mm lens with a 2X coupler.

Massachusetts - The Graves Lighthouse

The Graves Lighthouse is located at Boston Harbor, MA. The 113-foot tower, 30 feet in diameter at the base, was built in 1905 and fashioned of two-foot high blocks of Cape Ann (Rockport) granite. It rises from a carefully prepared ledge just four feet above the low tide mark. In 1976, after the Graves was automated, the station's original first-order Fresnel lens was removed and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. At the time of my visit in 2001, this was an active lighthouse. Due to its distance off main shore, I used a 500mm lens and 2X coupler to get this picture.

Massachusetts - Duxbury Pier Lighthouse

The Duxbury Pier Lighthouse, known to the locals at Plymouth, MA as the "Bug Light," was built in 1871. The white conical cast-iron tower stands atop a brown colored concrete-filled caisson and guards the north side of the main channel into Plymouth Harbor. The lantern room was originally equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens. The tower is unusually shaped compared to most other caisson-style structures.  They have straight-sides, or cylindrical foundations, while this one slopes.

In 1964 the Coast Guard automated the light, and then over the next 20 years the station saw little upkeep and fell into disrepair. It was further defaced and damaged by vandals. Residents learned in the 1980's that the government was ready to remove the upper portion of the 47-foot tower and install a fiberglass spire and solar-powered optic, similar to the one at Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Local Bug Light Preservationist soon raised $20,000 to refurbish and repaint the existing structure, while the Coast Guard carried out restoration of the foundations pier. US Coast Guard workers completed further maintenance in 1996. Great efforts and expense were expended over the years to keep this Bug Light maintained and operational. This was an active lighthouse at the time of my visit here in 2001. I took this picture from shore using a 500mm lens.

Massachusetts - Point Gammon Lighthouse

The Point Gammon Lighthouse is located on Great Island, West Yarmouth, MA. In 1816 a conical stone lighthouse and keeper's dwelling was built on the eastern side of Hyannis Harbor. In 1837 six feet of brick work was added to the top of the tower to elevate the light and provide better ventilation. The cylindrical superstructure, later shingled, gave the lighthouse a unique appearance among Massachusetts beacons.

With the establishment of the Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse, 2 1/2 miles south of Point Gammon, it eliminated the need for the harbor light. Point Gammon was discontinued in 1858. In 1872 the government sold the deserted station, and it has been privately owned ever since. During the 1970's, the tower was used as a residence. At the time of my visit in 2001 it was vacant. Great Island is private and has no public access. I was able to capture this picture from the mainland using a 500mm lens with 2X doubler and tripod.