Lynde Point Light
The lighthouse as it appeared about 1905
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 Connecticut
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| Location |
Old Saybrook Connecticut United States |
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| Coordinates | 41°16′17.4″N 72°20′35.2″W / 41.271500°N 72.343111°WCoordinates: 41°16′17.4″N 72°20′35.2″W / 41.271500°N 72.343111°W |
| Year first constructed | 1803 (first) |
| Year first lit | 1839 (current) |
| Automated | 1975 |
| Foundation | granite pier |
| Construction | brownstone blocks tower |
| Tower shape | octagonal frustum tower with balcony and lantern |
| Height | 65 ft (20 m) |
| Focal height | 71 ft (22 m) |
| Original lens | 10 lamps, 9 inch reflectors (1852 removed) |
| Current lens | Fifth order Fresnel lens (1890) |
| Characteristic | F W |
| Admiralty number | J0746 |
| ARLHS number | USA-462 |
| USCG number | 1-22520 |
| Managing agent |
United States Coast Guard |
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Lynde Point Light
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| Nearest city | Old Saybrook, Connecticut |
| MPS | Operating Lighthouses in Connecticut MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 89001469 |
| Added to NRHP | May 29, 1990 |
United States Coast Guard
The Lynde Point Light or Lynde Point Lighthouse, also known as Saybrook Inner Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in Connecticut, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Connecticut River on the Long Island Sound, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The first light was a 35 feet (11 m) wooden tower constructed by Abisha Woodward for $2,200 and it was completed in 1803. A new lighthouse was eventually needed and a total of $7,500 was appropriated on July 7, 1838. Jonathan Scranton, Volney Pierce, and John Wilcox were contracted to build the new 65-foot (20 m) octagonal brownstone tower. It was constructed in 1838 and lit in 1839. The lighthouse was renovated in 1867 and had its keeper's house from 1833 replaced in 1858 with a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed wood-frame house. In 1966, the house was torn down and replaced by a duplex house. The original ten lamps were replaced in 1852 with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, and with a fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1890. Lynde Point Lighthouse used whale oil until 1879 when it switched to kerosene. It was electrified in 1955 and fully automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1978. In 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and is significant for its "superior stone work in the tapering brownstone walls".
Out of a need for a lighthouse to mark the Old Saybrook harbor, the government paid $225 for William Lynde's land at its entrance to erect a light. Abisha Woodward was contracted to build a 35 feet (11 m) wooden tower for $2,200 and it was completed in 1803. Due to erosion threatening the foundation of the lighthouse, a seawall was constructed in 1829, and it was reinforced and widened in 1831. Also constructed was a six-room frame structure to serve as the keeper's quarters. The keeper's building was replaced in 1933. The light was criticized by many sailors for being too short to be seen at an effective distance, a problem exacerbated by a local fog from the marshland that obscured the light. A petition was made to have the tower raised 25 feet (7.6 m), but it was deemed a replacement would be better.
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Wikipedia