ANNISQUAM HARBOR LIGHT

CAPE ANN, MASSACHUSETTS; WIGWAM POINT/IPSWICH BAY; WEST OF ROCKPORT, MASSACHUSETTS
Station Established: 1801
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1897
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1974
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: STONE
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL ATTACHED TO GARAGE
Height: 45-feet
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN
Characteristics: White flash every 7.5 seconds
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Foghorn: Automated

Chronology:

1801: Annisquam is the oldest of four lighthouses to guard Gloucester peninsula. The keeper?s house, built in 1801 continues to house Coast Guard families. Rudyard Kipling lived there while writing "Captain?s Courageous" ? a great literary tribute to American sailors.
1974: The 4th order Fresnel lens and foghorn were automated.


BAKERS ISLAND LIGHT

BAKERS ISLAND/SALEM HARBOR APPROACH
Station Established: 1791
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1821
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1972
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: GRANITE
Construction Materials: GRANITE/CONCRETE
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1855


BASS RIVER LIGHT

BASS RIVER HARBOR
Station Established: 1855
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1855
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1989
Deactivated: 1914-1989
Foundation Materials: BRICK
Construction Materials: IRON TOWER ON WOOD HOUSE
Tower Shape: CONICAL TOWER ON DWELLING ROOF
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/RED TRIM
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: 1855


BILLINGSGATE ISLAND LIGHT


BIRD ISLAND LIGHT

SIPPICAN HARBOR OFF BUZZARD'S BAY
Station Established: 1819
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1819
Operational? YES
Automated? NO
Deactivated: 1939-1997
Foundation Materials: SURFACE ROCK
Construction Materials: RUBBLESTONE
Tower Shape: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN
Markings/Pattern: CONICAL
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1889


BISHOPS AND CLERKS LIGHT


BORDEN FLATS LIGHT

TAUNTON RIVER/MOUNT HOPE BAY
41? 14' 15" N x 71? 10' 29" W
Station Established: 1881
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1881
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1963
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: CAST IRON/CONCRETE CAISSON
Construction Materials: CAST IRON
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Height: 48-feet
Markings/Pattern: WHITE TOP/BLACK BOTTOM "SPARK PLUG"
Characteristics: flashing white light every 2.5 seconds
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1881
Present Optic: 250 MM (1977)
Foghorn: One blast every 10 seconds (1-second blast)

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The first beacon in the Fall River area was established in 1875 and was discontinued after the present tower was built in 1881.

1880: The site was purchased by the U.S. Government.

1881: The present lighthouse was constructed at a cost of $24,000. When first established, the optic was a kerosene-fed fourth-order Fresnel Lens.

1957: The tower was electrified.

1963: The light station was fully automated.

1977: In 1977 a modern plastic lens replaced the lantern?s classical lens.

1983: Fog signal changed to an electric horn.


BOSTON HARBOR LIGHT

LITTLE BREWSTER ISLAND/BOSTON HARBOR
Station Established: 1716
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1783
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1998
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: GRANITE LEDGE
Construction Materials: RUBBLE STONE/BRICK LINING
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/5 STEEL BANDS & BLACK TRIM
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: TALLOW CANDLES 1716

General Information:

The first 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.

The pay of Keeper John Hayes was raised to ?70 in 1718 so that he would not be obliged to entertain mariners on the island for extra money which he found "prejudicial to himself as well as to the town of Boston." In 1719 he asked "That a great Gun may be placed on Said Island to answer Ships in a Fogg" and one was supplied that year on which the date 1700 was engraved. The gun is shown on a mezzo-tint engraving of Boston Light made by Burgess in 1729.

Hayes? successor in 1734 was Robert Ball who petitioned the general court for preference in piloting vessels into the harbor. The court designated him as "established pilot" of the harbor for the next 3 years. In 1751 the lighthouse was badly damaged by fire so that only the walls remained.

In 1774 the British took over the island and in 1775 the harbor was blocked and the lighthouse became useless. On July 20, 1775, a small detachment of American troops under Major Voss visited the island and burned the wooden parts of the lighthouse. The British began to repair it under a marine guard, when General Washington dispatched Major Tupper with 300 men in whale-boats on July 31, 1775, who defeated the guard and destroyed the repair work done. They were intercepted on leaving by British small boats and attacked. A direct hit on one of the English boats by an American field piece on Nantasket Head, caused the British to retire to their boats with comparatively heavy losses. Only one American was killed. Majo