Watch Hill Lighthouse

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The Watch Hill Lighthouse in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, has served as a nautical beacon for ships since 1745, when the Rhode Island colonial government erected a watchtower and beacon during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. Destroyed in a 1781 storm, plans were discussed to build a new lighthouse to mark the eastern entrance to Fishers Island Sound and to warn mariners of a dangerous reef southwest of Watch Hill. President Thomas Jefferson signed an act to build the lighthouse in 1806 and construction was completed in 1807. The first lighthouse stood 35 feet tall. In 1827 a rotating light was installed to differentiate the light from that of the Stonington, Connecticut lighthouse. Erosion forced the lighthouse to close in 1855 and move further away from the bluff edge. The next lighthouse, opened in 1856, stands 45 feet tall. A few years after the steamer Metis crashed off of Watch Hill in 1872 killing 130 people, a U.S. Life Saving Service Station was built next to the lighthouse where it operated until the 1940s and destroyed in 1963. In 1907, the steamer Larchmont collided with a schooner killing 200 people four miles from the lighthouse. The Hurricane of 1938 caused severe damage to the lighthouse. The Leif Viking ran aground a few hundred feet from the lighthouse in 1962, and although there were no injuries, the ship was stranded for nine days. The lighthouse was automated in 1986 and leased to the Watch Hill Lightkeepers Association.