The Nobska Point Lighthouse is located at Falmouth, MA.
Originally the name was spelled "Nobsque." The first lighthouse,
built near here in 1829, was a three-room rubble-stone dwelling with an
eight-sided lantern mounted on the roof. It perched on the rocky headland at
Wood's Hole Harbor. That crude structure was rebuilt in 1849, and then in 1876 it was entirely replaced with the
current cylindrical, 40-foot cast-iron tower lined with brick, and topped with the
lantern room. The fifth-order lens, installed in the original lighthouse, was
replaced with a fourth-order (larger) lens in 1887. The tower stands 87-feet
above the water. Initially, the tower was painted brown, but later changed to
white and has been so for much of the twentieth century.
When the Bureau of Lighthouses came under the jurisdiction
of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939, those civilian keepers still active were
allowed to finish their current tour of service, until 1975, before being
replaced by Coast Guard personnel. Nobska Point Light was automated in 1985, and
its light flashed every six seconds and visible about 17-miles out at sea.
In 1988, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
For years after automation of the light, the two-story wood
frame keepers dwelling sat vacant until it became the family residence of the
Commander of Coast Guard Group Woods Hole. He oversaw the agency's operations
between Plymouth, MA and the Rhode Island, Connecticut borders. This occupancy
ended in 2001. The Coast Guard transferred responsibility for the lighthouse,
keeper’s dwelling, and the stations four-acres to the Town of Falmouth in 2016. The town plans to transform the keeper’s dwelling into a maritime museum.
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