Marblehead Light
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| Marblehead Light | |
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 Marblehead Light |
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| Location: | Marblehead Neck, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
42.506 -70.840 |
| Year first constructed: | 1835 replaced 1895 |
| Year first lit: | 1835 (original light) |
| Automated: | 1960 |
| Foundation: | Concrete |
| Construction: | Cast Iron (current) |
| Tower shape: | Square skeletal |
| Markings/Pattern: | Brown with black lantern |
| Height: | 105 feet (32m) |
| Elevation: | 25 feet (7.5m) above sea level |
| Original lens: | 300mm Fresnel (replaced 6th Order Fresnel in 1960) |
| Characteristic: | Changed in 1938 to fixed green |
for Marblehead Lighthouse, Ohio see Marblehead Lighthouse
Marblehead Light is situated at Marblehead Neck, Massachusetts Bay in Essex County, Massachusetts and falls into USCG district #1. The current tower is a cast iron skeletal structure that replaced the original 1835 brick and wood tower in 1895. It is the only tower of its type in New England, the next similar tower is to be found at Coney Island, New York. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, on June 15 1987 as number #87001479 under Lighthouses of Massachusetts Thematic Group.[1] It is currently run by the United States Coast Guard.
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[edit] History
In August 1831, the townspeople of Marblehead requested that a lighthouse be built at the entrance to the harbour. Congress granted the wish and a 23 foot (7m) high tower was built in 1836 and commissioned on 10 October 1835.[2] This tower had an array of ten whale oil burning lamps inside an octagonal lantern.
In 1857, the old lamp system was replaced by a sixth order Fresnel lens and reflectors. Despite the upgrade and work on the tower and associated keepers house, the tower itself was in a poor condition and by 1893 a new light was requested. The new light was completed in 1895 at a cost of $8 786, the cost being much reduced by using a cast iron skeletal frame rather than rebuilding the old tower.
This new light consisted of 8 cast iron piles on concrete foundations. The light was a sixth order Fesnel lens with a kerosene lamp. It was first illuminated on 17 April 1896 as a fixed white light. Later in 1922 it was changed to a fixed red and then in 1938, it was changed to fixed green. In 1960, the light was automated and a new 300mm optic was installed.[3]
About 30 feet (10m) from the light are two bronze plaques located where the original light was, one listing the history of the light and the other listing keepers who looked after the light until it was taken over by the Coastguard Service:
- 1835-1860 Ezekiel Darling
- 1860-1862 Jane C. Martin
- 1862-1872 John Goodwin
- 1872-1892 James S. Bailey
- 1892-1893 Albert M. Horte
- 1893-1928 Henry T. Drayton
- 1928-1930 Russell B. Eastman
- 1930-1938 Edwin C. Rogers
- 1938-1941 Harry S. Marden
- 1941-1947 - Light was controlled by the US Army
- 1947-1954 Joseph Barry
[edit] References
[edit] See also
Town of Marblehead, Massachusetts
[edit] External links
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