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| The shot I took on the tour |
Beavertail
Lighthouse, built in
1749, was and still is the premier lighthouse in Rhode Island, USA,
especially for entrance into Narragansett Bay. The 45-foot (14 m)
lighthouse lies on the southernmost point of Conanicut Island in the town of Jamestown, Rhode
Island in Beavertail State Park.
The light has been reconstructed multiple times since its erection, most
recently after the Hurricane of 1938.
Restoration projects have come and gone since. The light provides navigation
for boats and ships entering Narragansett Bay in the East Passage between Conanicut Island and Newport, Rhode Island
on Aquidneck Island.
Other lighthouses, such as Castle Hill Lighthouse,
Point Judith Light,
and Rose Island Light
are visible from Beavertail Lighthouse.
Its white light
rotates counterclockwise and
makes a full rotation in about six or seven seconds. The light is on 24 hours
per day, unlike many lighthouses that are near it. It has a loud foghorn that blasts about every 30 seconds during
the fog.
History
Prior to the
establishment of a lighthouse at Beavertail, local Native Americans would keep
pitch fires burning, to warn sailors away from the rocky coastline. In 1749, a
wooden tower was built, and the light (which was then known as "Newport
Light") became the third lighthouse established in the colonies, preceded
only by Boston Light in Boston Harbor, and Brant Point Light, Nantucket. A fire was lit at
the top of the tower, as was common for the time. Four years later it burned
down and was replaced by a stone tower.
In 1779, as
British sailors retreating from Newport near the end of the American
Revolutionary War, they left a trail of destruction behind them.
This included burning the lighthouse and removing the optics, which left the
light dark for the rest of the war.
In 1856, the
tower was again replaced with what is now the current tower, made of granite
which is 10 ft (3.0 m) square, and 64 feet (20 m) from ground to
beacon. A 3rd order Fresnel lens was
placed and over the next forty years it was the site of numerous fog-signal
tests, under the supervision of the United State Lighthouse board. In 1898
quarters for an assistant keeper were added to the keeper's house, the
assistant helped, among other things, with fog-signaling.
During the 1938
hurricane, the whistle house was destroyed, revealing the original base for the
1749 structure, which sits 100 feet (30 m) from the current tower. A few
miles southwest of Beavertail point, Whale Rock can be seen, resembling a
submarine attempting to surface. Whale Rock Lighthouse,
and its keeper, Walter Eberle, were swept into the waters of Narragansett bay
during the hurricane of 1938; Eberle's body was never recovered.
In 1939, the US Coast Guard took command of all lighthouses
and navigational aids, and in 1989 Beavertail light was automated, as part of a
program by the Coast Guard, which ended the job the keeper at all stations
except for Boston Light, which to this day, remains the only manned lighthouse
in America.
In 1989,
following a joint effort by the US Coast Guard, Rhode Island Parks Management,
the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the town of
Jamestown, the building was restored and reopened to the public. In 1993,
Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association (BLMA) was established to oversee the
operations of the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, which is located in the
assistant keeper's house. The museum includes a Fresnel lens, and the history of, models and
photos of many Rhode Island lighthouses.
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