Boston Light
Boston Light
|
|
| Location | Little Brewster Island Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Year first constructed | 1716 |
| Year first lit | 1783 (current tower) |
| Automated | 1998 |
| Deactivated | 1776-1783 and during WWII. |
| Foundation | Granite Ledge |
| Construction | Masonry, Rubble Stone with brick lining |
| Tower shape | Conical |
| Markings / pattern | White with five steel bands and black trim |
| Height | 89 feet (27 m) |
| Focal height | 102 feet (31 m) |
| Original lens | Tallow candles installed in 1716 |
| Current lens | 2nd order Fresnel lens |
| Intensity | 1,800,000 candlepower |
| Range | 27 nautical miles (50 km; 31 mi) |
| Characteristic | Flashing white every 10 seconds. |
| Fog signal | HORN: 1 every 30s |
| USCG number |
1-425 |
|
Boston Light
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°19′40.855″N 70°53′24.266″W / 42.32801528°N 70.89007389°WCoordinates: 42°19′40.855″N 70°53′24.266″W / 42.32801528°N 70.89007389°W |
| Area | 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) |
| Built | 1716 |
| MPS | Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR (AD) |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000133 |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
1-425
Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The current lighthouse dates from 1783, is the second oldest working lighthouse in the United States (after Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey), and is the only lighthouse to still be actively staffed by the United States Coast Guard, being automated in 1998 though there is still a keeper acting as tour guide. The structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
The first keeper of Boston Light was George Worthylake, who drowned, along with his wife and daughter, when returning to the island in 1718. During the American Revolution, the original lighthouse was held by British forces and was attacked and burnt on two occasions by American forces. As the British forces withdrew in 1776, they blew up the tower and completely destroyed it. The lighthouse was eventually reconstructed in 1783, to the same 75-foot (23 m) height as the original tower. In 1856 it was raised to its present height of 98 feet (30 m) and a new lantern room was added along with a 12-sided second order Fresnel lens.
The lighthouse established in America was on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor and was first lit September 14, 1716. A tonnage tax of 1 penny per ton on all vessels, except coasters, moving in or out of Boston Harbor, paid for maintaining the light.
The first keeper, George Worthylake, with a salary of £50 a year, also acted as pilot for vessels entering the harbor. In 1718 he and his wife and daughter, with two men, were drowned when the lighthouse boat capsized as they were returning to the island from Boston. Young Benjamin Franklin, then a printer in Boston, wrote a ballad about the incident entitled "Lighthouse Tragedy" and sold it on the streets of Boston.
...
Wikipedia