Castle Hill Light

Castle Hill Light

2006
Location	Newport, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°27′43.8″N 71°21′46.5″W / 41.462167°N 71.362917°W / 41.462167; -71.362917Coordinates: 41°27′43.8″N 71°21′46.5″W / 41.462167°N 71.362917°W / 41.462167; -71.362917
Year first constructed	1890
Year first lit	1890
Automated	1957
Foundation	Granite blocks
Construction	Granite blocks
Tower shape	Conical tower
Markings / pattern	Granite lower, upper half white, black lantern
Height	34 feet (10 m)
Focal height	40 feet (12 m)
Original lens	Fifth order Fresnel lens
Current lens	300 mm
Range	12 nm
Characteristic	Isophase Red, 6 sec
Fog signal	Horn, 1 every 10 sec.
Admiralty number	J0530
ARLHS number	USA-144
USCG number	1-17795 [1] [2] [3]
Castle Hill Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Off Ocean Ave. on Castle Hill at W end of Newport Neck, Newport, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°27′43″N 71°21′48″W / 41.46194°N 71.36333°W / 41.46194; -71.36333
Built	1890
Architect	H.H. Richardson
Architectural style	Romanesque
Governing body	COAST GUARD
MPS	Lighthouses of Rhode Island TR
NRHP Reference #	88000277 [4]
Added to NRHP	March 30, 1988

Castle Hill Lighthouse is located on Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island at the end of the historic Ocean Drive. It is an active navigation aid for vessels entering the East Passage between Conanicut Island and Aquidneck Island. The lighthouse was completed in 1890 on property formerly belonging to the naturalist, oceanographer, and zoologist Alexander Agassiz of Harvard University. Agassiz sold the land to the United States Government for the lighthouse for $1.00.

Henry Hobson Richardson drew a sketch for a lighthouse at this location which may or may not have been the basis for the actual design. The structure does not include the residence which was featured in Richardson's sketch. The keeper's house was built, and still stands, near Castle Hill Cove, a few hundred feet away.^[3]

Although the lighthouse is not open to the public, the shoreline and cliff face where the lighthouse sits are accessible by several footpaths from the Castle Hill Inn and the Castle Hill Cove Marina. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 as Castle Hill Lighthouse.

References

v t e Lighthouses of Rhode Island Beavertail Block Island North Block Island Southeast Brenton Reef Bristol Ferry Bullock's Point Castle Hill Conanicut Island Conimicut Dutch Island Gould Island Gull Rocks Hog Island Shoal Ida Lewis Musselbed Shoals Nayatt Point Newport Harbor Plum Beach Point Judith Pomham Rocks Poplar Point Prudence Island Rose Island Sabin Point Sakonnet Warwick Watch Hill Whale Rock Wickford Harbor