Misplaced Pages

Hospital Point Range Front Light

US Coast Guard photo
Location	Beverly, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°32′47.4″N 70°51′21.4″W / 42.546500°N 70.855944°W / 42.546500; -70.855944
Tower
Constructed	1871
Foundation	Granite
Construction	Brick
Automated	1947
Height	13.5 m (44 ft)
Shape	Square pyramidal tower with attached house
Markings	White, black lantern
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1872
Focal height	70 feet (21 m)
Lens	Third order Fresnel lens (current)
Characteristic	F W
Hospital Point Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
MPS	Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR
NRHP reference No.	87002031
Added to NRHP	September 28, 1987

Hospital Point Range Front Light is a historic lighthouse at the end of Bayview Avenue in Beverly, Massachusetts. It forms the front half of a range which guides vessels toward Salem Harbor. The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Hospital Point Light Station on September 28, 1987.

Established in 1871, the beacon marks the deep water channel to Beverly, Salem and Marblehead Two bronze plaques contain historical information about the site. One plaque honors Beverly men who manned a fort at the site during the Revolutionary War, and the second describes the lighthouse and a smallpox hospital that was previously located on the site. The lighthouse was first lit in 1872 and was automated in 1947. The Fresnel lens was replaced in 1976, and an acrylic optic was installed in 1981. At some point the original 3.5-order Fresnel Lens was returned to the lighthouse where it presently remains.

The square pyramidal light tower is 45 feet (14 m) tall, made of white painted brick and is topped with a 10-sided lantern. There are five sash windows in the tower, with the doorway facing the keeper's house. A small brick oil house stands nearby. The keeper's house is an example of Queen Anne style architecture, although its historic detailing are obscured by a major addition to the building in 1968.

Hospital Point Light is owned and operated as a navigation aid by the United States Coast Guard. The light is paired with a second light installed in the steeple of Beverly's First Baptist Church in 1927. Vessels are able to use the two lights to align themselves with the middle of the channel, avoiding the rocky shores.

Tours are offered to the public each August for Beverly Homecoming celebrations and include 40 winding stairs and a ladder to the top of the light.

• Hospital Point Light, February 2010
• Hospital Point Light Station, Bayview Ave. Beverly
• Hospital Point Light Station, Bayview Ave. Beverly

See also

• Hospital Point Range Rear Light
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Massachusetts". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. 2009-09-02. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
3. United States Coast Guard (2009). Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey. p. 82.
4. Wright, John Hardy. Images of American: Beverly. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2000. p. 105
5. United States Coast Guard. Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Massachusetts. online.
6. ^ "MACRIS inventory record for Hospital Point Range Front Light". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
7. "Hospital Point Range Front Lighthouse". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
8. National Park Service. Maritime History of Massachusetts. online
9. ^ Leighton, Paul. (2007, July 28.) Seeing the light: tours offer rare views from Hospital Point. Salem News.

v t e Lighthouses of Massachusetts
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Annisquam Harbor Bakers Island Billingsgate Island Bird Island Bishop and Clerks Borden Flats Boston Brant Point Broad Sound Channel Butler Flats Buzzards Bay Entrance Cape Ann Cape Poge Chatham Clarks Point Cleveland East Ledge Cuttyhunk Deer Island Derby Wharf Dumpling Rocks Duxbury Pier East Chop Eastern Point Edgartown Harbor Egg Rock Fairhaven Bridge Fort Pickering (Winter Island) Gay Head The Graves Great Point Highland Hospital Point Range Front Hospital Point Range Rear Hyannis Rear Range Ipswich Range Long Island Head Long Point Lovells Island Range Marblehead Mayo Beach Minot's Ledge Monomoy Point Nantucket Beacon Nantucket Cliff Range Nantucket Harbor Range Nauset Ned Point Newburyport Harbor Front Range Newburyport Harbor Newburyport Harbor Rear Range Nobska Old Scituate Palmer Island Plymouth Point Gammon Race Point Sandy Neck Sankaty Head Spectacle Island Range Stage Harbor Straitsmouth Island Tarpaulin Cove Ten Pound Island Thacher Island North Three Sisters of Nauset West Chop West Dennis Wing's Neck Wood End

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Barnstable Berkshire Bristol Dukes Essex Franklin Hampden Hampshire Middlesex Nantucket Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk Worcester (northern)
Lists by city	Barnstable County Barnstable Harwich Bristol County Fall River New Bedford Taunton Essex County Andover Gloucester Ipswich Lawrence Lynn Methuen Salem Hampden County Springfield Middlesex County Arlington Cambridge Concord Framingham Lexington Lowell Marlborough Medford Newton Reading Sherborn Somerville Stoneham Wakefield Waltham Weston Winchester Norfolk County Brookline Milton Quincy Suffolk County Boston northern southern Worcester County Southbridge Uxbridge Worcester eastern northwestern southwestern
Other lists	Bridges Cape Cod National Seashore National Historic Landmarks Boston
Category National Register of Historic Places portal United States portal

• Lighthouses completed in 1871
• Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
• Lighthouses in Essex County, Massachusetts
• 1871 establishments in Massachusetts
• Buildings and structures in Beverly, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts