NELL New England Series “Little Lights of Mine”

New England Lighthouse Lovers (NELL), a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, has commissioned Lighthouse Marketing and the artists of the “Harbour Lights” lighthouse replicas to produce 6 “Little Lights of Mine” which will comprise the NELL New England Series.

The first one, a beautiful replica of Race Point Light on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is expected in early July. NELL will sell these replicas in two ways - singly or as a reserved set of six models.

Click here for more details!

Lighthouse of the Week - Sandy Neck Light, Massachusetts

The eastern tip of Sandy Neck—a half-mile wide, six-mile long, dune-studded peninsula on the north side of Cape Cod—marks the entrance to Barnstable Harbor as well as the approach to the small harbor at Yarmouthport. In the days when shore whaling was a major local industry, Sandy Neck was the site of try works for the processing of whale blubber. Today, it’s home to a little cottage community just west of the lighthouse.


Congress appropriated $3,500 for a lighthouse at the eastern tip of the peninsula, a site known as Beach Point, on May 18, 1826. The light went into service on October 1, 1826. The first lighthouse consisted of a wooden lantern on the roof of a brick keeper’s house.

An 1843 report mentioned that shipwreck victims often took refuge at the lighthouse. The keeper, according to the report, needed a new boat; his present one was 8 eight years old and “in great decay.”

The original lighthouse was replaced in 1857 by the 48-foot brick tower that still stands, slightly north of the first light’s location. The distinctive pair of iron hoops and six staves that surround the central part of the lighthouse were added in 1887 as part of an effort to shore up cracks in the tower.

The waters inside Sandy Neck were often plagued by ice in winter. One cold day, Keeper Thomas Baxter was heading to Barnstable in his dory, alternately rowing, pulling, and pushing the vessel through the icy harbor. He caught his leg between the dory and the ice, suffering an injury that led to gangrene and eventually his death in 1862. Baxter’s wife, Lucy Hinckley Baxter, succeeded him as keeper and raised three children at the station.

George A. Jamieson became keeper in 1897. After a storm in late 1898, Jamieson discovered that his chicken coop and 40 chickens were gone, apparently washed away to their doom. As it turned out, the coop had washed safely ashore in Barnstable. The chickens were fine, although they did exhibit some strange symptoms that were attributed to seasickness.

Barnstable Harbor gradually declined in importance, and shifting sands had left the lighthouse in a less advantageous position. In the summer of 1931, when William L. Anderson was keeper, the lighthouse was decommissioned and its lens was moved to a steel skeleton tower 200 feet closer to the tip of Sandy Neck. The light was discontinued in 1952.

The lantern was removed from the lighthouse and the property was sold at auction in 1933. Ken Morton and Kee Hinckley manage the Sandy Neck Lighthouse property today for their family. In 2004, Morton began working with the American Lighthouse Foundation to have a replica lantern installed on the tower in time for its 150th birthday, in 2007.

The Sandy Neck Lighthouse Restoration Committee eventually became a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The installation of a new lantern began in the spring and summer of 2007. The job was completeted in the fall, and in October 2007 the lighthouse was relighted as a private aid to navigation, with a modern LED optic.

The trips offered by Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises pass close by the lighthouse on their way out of Barnstable Harbor; check www.whales.net for more information. You can read much more about this lighthouse in the book The Lighthouses of Massachusetts

Lighthouse Ghost Hunt on September 19

Join Ron Kolek, Maureen Wood, and other members of New England Ghost Project, along with representatives of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse for an investigation of one of New England's most haunted lighthouses.

Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and adjacent Fort Constitution were featured on SciFi’s Ghost Hunters TV show. The lighthouse is on an active Coast Guard station, so access to these structures is normally limited -- don’t miss this rare opportunity to explore this site with the New England Ghost Project.

For the novice, you will learn about the inner workings of a ghost hunt and the scientific and spiritual techniques needed to successfully complete one. For the expert, test your skills and compare the evidence you collect with previous evidence collected at the site. Don’t miss this rare opportunity. Sign up now. Space is limited. The event will be from 8:00 p.m. to midnight on September 19.

Go to www.portsmouthharborlighthouse.org to reserve your space!

Lighthouse of the Week - Saddleback Ledge Light, Maine

Saddleback Ledge is a wave-swept granite outcropping at the southern entrance to East Penobscot Bay (also known as Isle au Haut Bay), approximately four miles from the southeastern corner of Vinalhaven to the west and three miles from the southwestern coast of Isle au Haut to the east.

In 1836, the ship Royal Tar, carrying circus performers and animals, caught fire and sank near the ledge. In March of the following year, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse on Saddleback Ledge.

The noted architect and engineer Alexander Parris (1780–1852) designed the tower. Construction was carried out in 1838–39. Another $10,000 was appropriated for the project in July 1838; the total cost of $15,000 made this an expensive lighthouse for its time. The lighthouse is a 43-foot-tall conical granite tower, originally topped by an octagonal wrought wrought-iron lantern.

The first keeper was Watson Y. Hopkins, a Maine native. Hopkins lived at the lighthouse with his wife, Abigail, and seven children, ranging in age from infancy to the late teens. The large family was crowded into living quarters inside the lighthouse tower that consisted of a living room with a cooking stove, two bedrooms, and a cellar. Hopkins painted a dismal picture of the living conditions at the lighthouse in 1842:

I was appointed keeper of this light, December, 1839, upon a salary of $450. I live with my family in the tower, which is the only building on the ledge. . . My family consists of nine persons. There is a living room and two chambers in the tower, besides a cellar. The copper spout carried round the tower to catch rain water has been so injured by the surf, that it is no longer of any use. The iron railing, which was secured to the rock around the tower, has been all swept away; also, the privy, which was carried away the first storm after its erection. The windows all leak in storms, the shutters having no rebates in the stone work.

The station was eventually assigned an assistant keeper, and there were two assistants by 1880. An attached wooden building was added, finally improving the cramped living conditions to some degree.

Robert Thayer Sterling interviewed Keeper W. W. Wells for his 1935 book, Maine Lighthouses and the Men Who Keep Them. Wells described life at the remote station:

It’s not so bad in the summer. We have lots of visitors, for then the sea is smooth . . . Winter we all hate the most, beginning when the summer guests have gone and the hotels on shore are closed. This means we will have to bank up the old station, get some good reading matter and snuggle down for a long period of isolation.

The light was automated in late 1954. The Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern optic, and the light continued as an automatic aid to navigation. The remains of the attached wooden building were blown up as a Green Beret assault exercise sometime around 1960, but the hardy lighthouse tower seems poised to weather many storms to come.

For much more on this lighthouse, see my new book The Lighthouses of Maine.

Boston Light, Massachusetts

Boston Light, Massachusetts, originally uploaded by nelights.

A personal favorite among my photos -- Boston Light at sunset.

Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse from the water

This view of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse was taken from last night's cruise with Captain and Patty's Cruises of Kittery Point, Maine. These early evening cruises will continue every Tuesday until September, with proceeds benefiting the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. See www.portsmouthharborlighthouse.org for details.

Lighthouse of the week: Pomham Rocks Light, Rhode Island

Pomham Rocks is a stark islet of approximately one-half acre rising out of the Providence River, about 800 feet from the east shore in the Riverside section of East Providence. It's named for a Narragansett Indian sachem who was killed in King Phillip’s War in 1676. Some locals will tell you it’s pronounced with equal emphasis on both syllables—“Pom-ham” rather than “Pom-um.”

With increased shipping traffic heading toward Providence, Pomham Rocks was an obvious place to establish a navigational aid. A pyramidal daymark was erected around 1828, but something more was needed to help ensure the safety of the parade of vessels that passed day and night. Congress granted an appropriation of $20,000 on July 15, 1870, for three lights on the river—at Pomham Rocks, Sassafras Point, and Fuller Rock.

At Pomham Rocks, a wooden dwelling with a mansard roof was built on a granite foundation, 28 by 28 feet, with a hexagonal lighthouse tower mounted on the front center of the building. The light was first exhibited on December 1, 1871, with a sixth-order Fresnel lens showing a fixed white light. On October 1, 1872, the characteristic was changed to fixed red.

The first keeper, C. H. Salisbury, had a long 22-year stay. Adolph Herman Aronson was keeper for a 29-year stretch beginning in 1908. Aronson was a native of Sweden who came to America in 1890, when he was 18. After service on the Hog Island Shoal Lightship and the lighthouse that replaced it, he went to Pomham Rocks with his wife, Nellie (Johnson), and their three children.

Sometimes in winter it was possible to walk to shore on the ice, but usually Keeper Aronson transported his children to East Providence by boat so they could attend school. If the water was rough near shore, he’d wear rubber boots so he could carry them to dry land from the boat.

A feline member of the family named Tommy 3rd landed the Aronsons in newspapers around the country. It seems Tommy the tabby would perch on the edge of the island watching for unsuspecting fish, waiting for the right moment to dive in and catch them.

Adolph Aronson retired from lighthouse keeping in 1937. The next keeper was William J. Howard, who moved to Pomham Rocks with his wife and their teenage son, Bill Jr. Although Pomham Rocks was scarcely more than a stone’s throw from East Providence, it was frequently a nightmare to get ashore, especially in winter. Young Bill Jr. commuted via rowboat to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, and sometimes in rough weather he’d be hours late for class.

Howard Beebe retired in 1956 as the last civilian keeper at Pomham Rocks. He was followed by a succession of Coast Guard crews. The fog bell mechanism still needed to be wound every few hours and the light still ran on kerosene until November 1956, when a cable from shore brought electricity to the island for the first time.

In the spring of 1974, the Coast Guard relocated the navigational light to the top of a skeletal tower erected near the lighthouse, and the last Coast Guard crew was reassigned. By May 1978, the General Services Administration had declared the lighthouse surplus federal property. The General Services Administration accepted sealed bids for the lighthouse in August 1980. The highest of 30 bids—$40,100—came from the Mobil Oil Company, which maintained a large refinery and terminal near the lighthouse in East Providence.

The last few years has seen the birth of a new group of guardians for the historic structure—the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse (FPRL), a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF). The Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse was officially launched as a chapter of ALF in late 2004. In June 2005, a contract was signed by Keith Lescarbeau of the Abcore Restoration Company Inc. to begin restoration work.

The first phase of restoration included repairs to the roof, lantern, siding, and trim. The tower, which had developed a seven-degree tilt, was straightened and secured. About 40 percent of the original siding was salvaged, and a window that had been covered for years by the new siding was reconstructed.

On July 30, 2006, the navigational light was returned to the lighthouse. The Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse plan to install exhibits in the restored building and to open it periodically for the public. The motto of the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse is, appropriately, “Guiding the Way Along the Bay since 1871.” It appears that this tradition will continue for many years to come.

For more, click here, or get the book "The Lighthouses of Rhode Island."