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Marblehead Light

Marblehead Light
Location	Marblehead Neck, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°30′19.6″N 70°50′1.2″W / 42.505444°N 70.833667°W / 42.505444; -70.833667
Tower
Constructed	1835 replaced 1895
Foundation	Concrete
Construction	Cast Iron (current)
Automated	1960
Height	105 feet (32 m)
Shape	Square skeletal
Markings	Brown with black gallery and lantern
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1835 (original light)
Focal height	130 feet (40 m)
Lens	Sixth-Order Fresnel lens (original), 300 millimetres (12 in) (current)
Range	7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi)
Characteristic	Fixed green
Marblehead Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Marblehead Neck, Marblehead, Massachusetts
Area	less than one acre
Built	1835
MPS	Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR
NRHP reference No.	87001479
Added to NRHP	June 15, 1987

Marblehead Light is situated on Marblehead Neck in Essex County, Massachusetts. The current tower is a 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.

The United States Coast Guard Light List description is "Square skeleton tower; brown to gallery; black above". The actual light is 130 feet (40 m) above Mean High Water. Its fixed green light is visible for 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi).

History

In August 1831, the townspeople of Marblehead requested that a lighthouse be built at the entrance to the harbor. Congress granted the wish and a 23-foot (7m) high tower was built in 1835 and commissioned on October 10, 1835. 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 skeletal frame rather than rebuilding the old tower.

This new light consisted of eight cast iron piles on concrete foundations. The light was a sixth order Fresnel 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 fixed red and then in 1938 to fixed green. In 1960, the light was automated and a new 300 millimetres (12 in) optic was installed.

About 30 feet (9.1 m) 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 Coast Guard:

• 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

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. United States Coast Guard (2009). Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey. p. 5.
3. Marblehead history
4. "National Park Service". Archived from the original on 2007-03-06. Retrieved 2007-03-07.

External links

Media related to Marblehead Light (Massachusetts) at Wikimedia Commons

• Inventory of Historic Light Stations – National Park Service Archived 2007-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
• History of Marblehead Light

v t e Lighthouses of Massachusetts
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
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v t e Marblehead, Massachusetts
Incorporated in 1639 Based in Essex County in Massachusetts Population 19,808
General Information	Marblehead History Geography Demographics Education Points of interest Notable residents Art
Institutions	14th Continental Regiment Andrea Gail Burgess Company CW Hood Yachts Glover Elementary School Kingsport USS Marblehead 1861 C-11 CL-12 Marblehead High School Marblehead Little Theatre Race to Halifax Old Burial Hill Seatrain Winter Harbor 21
Notable Residents	Keith Ablow Frank Black Sheldon Brown William Starling Burgess Uriel Crocker Susan Estrich Shalane Flanagan Elbridge Gerry Julia Glass John Glover Tyler Hamilton Ted Hood Katherine Howe Ada Louise Huxtable Ruth Edna Kelley Harry Kemelman Peter Lynch John Nestor Rhod Sharp Joseph Story Cory Schneider Dave Silverman
Historic Houses	Elbridge Gerry Gen. John Glover Herreshoff Castle Jeremiah Lee Marblehead Colonial Raised House Old Town House Robert "King" Hooper Woodbury Point
Historic Buildings and Sites	Abbot Hall Fort Sewall Harris Farm Marblehead Historic District Saint Michael's Church Story Grammar School
v t e Neighboring towns Salem Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean Salem Marblehead Atlantic Ocean Swampscott Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean
Category Town of Marblehead

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
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• Lighthouses completed in 1835
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• Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
• Lighthouses in Essex County, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts