Castle Hill Light

Last updated
Castle Hill Light
CastleHillLighthouse.jpg
Castle Hill Light
LocationOff Ocean Ave. on Castle Hill at W end of Newport Neck, Newport, Rhode Island
Coordinates 41°27′43″N71°21′47″W / 41.462°N 71.363°W / 41.462; -71.363
Tower
Constructed1890  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Constructiongranite  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Automated1957  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Height10 m (33 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Shapeconical  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
HeritageNational Register of Historic Places listed place  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Fog signal Horn, 1 every 10 sec.
Light
First lit1890  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Focal height12 m (39 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
LensFifth order Fresnel lens (original), 12 inches (300 mm) (current)
Range12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Characteristic Iso R 6s  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Castle Hill Light
Castle Hill Lighthouse RI 2006.jpg
Architect H.H. Richardson
Architectural styleRomanesque
Part of Ocean Drive Historic District (ID76000048)
MPS Lighthouses of Rhode Island TR
NRHP reference No. 88000277 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 30, 1988
Designated NHLDCPMay 11, 1976

Castle Hill Lighthouse is located on Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island, at the end of the historic Ocean Drive. [2] [3] [4] It is an active navigation aid for vessels entering the East Passage, between Conanicut Island and Aquidneck Island. The lighthouse has become a symbol of Newport, and a frequent site for wedding photos, proposals, and tourist photos. [5] Although the property is owned by the nearby Castle Hill Inn, the lighthouse is owned by the United States Coast Guard. [5]

Contents

History

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. [4]

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. His mansion on the property, commissioned in 1874, is now an inn. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 as Castle Hill Lighthouse.

Although the lighthouse building 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. The lighthouse is a popular site for tourist photos and wedding shoots, and widely recognizable as a symbol of Newport. [5] While the property is owned by the nearby Castle Hill Inn, the lighthouse itself is owned by the United States Coast Guard. [5]

2021 repainting

By 2020, the iconic lighthouse had become streaked with unsightly brown rust, and the Coast Guard indicated that it had no plans to perform any exterior maintenance. [5]

In March 2021, the Castle Hill Inn signed a five-year agreement with the Coast Guard to refresh the lighthouse's exterior appearance. [5] A local contractor was hired to perform a full power wash, paint, and beautification at a cost of $17,000, just in time for the 2021 summer wedding season. [5]

List of keepers

  1. Frank W. Parmele (1890 – 1911)
  2. George L. Hoxsie (1911 – at least 1944)
  3. Manuel Soares Macedo (at least 1945).
  4. Ernest H. Stacey (Coast Guard BM1, May 22, 1947 – September 30, 1948)

After the 1938 hurricane, operation of the lighthouse was taken over by Coast Guard personnel. In 1957, the light was automated. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Watch Hill is an affluent coastal neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. The population was 154 at the 2010 census. It sits at the most-southwestern point in Rhode Island. It came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century as an exclusive summer resort, with wealthy families building sprawling Victorian-style "cottages" along the peninsula. Watch Hill is characterized by The New York Times as a community "with a strong sense of privacy and of discreetly used wealth," in contrast with "the overpowering castles of the very rich" in nearby Newport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Block Island Southeast Light</span> Lighthouse in Rhode Island, United States

Block Island Southeast Light is a lighthouse located on Mohegan Bluffs at the southeastern corner of Block Island, Rhode Island. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1997 as one of the most architecturally sophisticated lighthouses built in the United States in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Island Light</span> Lighthouse on Rose Island, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

The Rose Island Light, built in 1870, is on Rose Island in Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island in the United States. It is preserved, maintained and operated by The Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenosha North Pier Light</span> Lighthouse in Wisconsin, United States

The Kenosha North Pier Light, also known as the Kenosha North Pierhead Light, is a lighthouse located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. "A typical 'Lake Michigan red tower'", it is a sibling to the Milwaukee Pierhead Light. This light was built in 1906 as a replacement of the old Kenosha Light Station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport Harbor Light</span> Lighthouse

The Newport Harbor Light, also known as the Goat Island Light or Green Light, built in 1842, is located on north end of Goat Island, which is part of the city of Newport, Rhode Island, United States, in Narragansett Bay. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point No Point Light (Maryland)</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Point No Point Light, located in the Chesapeake Bay off the eponymous point several miles north of the mouth of the Potomac River, was constructed as part of a program to add lighted navigational aids in a thirty-mile stretch of the bay between Cove and Smith Points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Vicente Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in California, United States

Point Vicente Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, United States, north of Los Angeles Harbor. It is 67 feet (20 m) tall and stands on a cliff with a height of 130 feet (40 m). It is between Point Loma Lighthouse to the south and Point Conception Lighthouse to the north. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The lighthouse is owned by the United States federal government and is managed by the United States Coast Guard. It is not usually open to the public, but the Coast Guard Auxiliary run tours once per month and it is used annually for the city's "Whale of a Day" festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Captain Island Light</span> Lighthouse in Connecticut, United States

Great Captain Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Great Captain Island in the western Long Island Sound off the coast of Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Built in 1829, the first lighthouse, made of stone, was of such poor construction that the walls were severely cracked a decade later. In 1868, a new granite dwelling with attached lantern was completed. The lighthouse is of the same design as lighthouses at Sheffield Island in Norwalk; Morgan Point in Noank; Old Field Point Light and Plum Island in New York; and Block Island North in Rhode Island. In 1890, a fog whistle was added, in 1905 a siren was installed. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1970 when a skeletal tower replaced it. The Town of Greenwich acquired the property in 1973 and had full-time caretakers on the site until the lighthouse became too dilapidated in 2003. A successful restoration effort was completed in 2009 and a non-navigational light was activated in 2012. In 2010, a memorial plaque was installed to "honor the 23 people who lived in Greenwich, or had a connection to the town", who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks. In 1991, the Great Captain Island Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beavertail Lighthouse</span> United States historic place

Beavertail Lighthouse was built in 1856 and is the premier lighthouse in Rhode Island, marking the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The 64-foot (20 m) lighthouse lies on the southernmost point of Conanicut Island in the town of Jamestown, Rhode Island in Beavertail State Park, on a site where beacons have stood since the early 18th century. 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 are visible from Beavertail Lighthouse, such as Castle Hill Lighthouse, Point Judith Light, and Rose Island Light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cove Point Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Cove Point Light is a lighthouse located on the west side of Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prudence Island Light</span> Lighthouse

The Prudence Island Lighthouse, more commonly known locally as the Sandy Point Lighthouse, is located on Prudence Island, Rhode Island and is the oldest lighthouse tower in the state. Sandy Point is nicknamed Chibacoweda, meaning "little place separated by a passage", because the location is a little more than one mile offshore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pomham Rocks Light</span> Lighthouse

Pomham Rocks Light is a historic lighthouse in the Providence River about 200 yards (180 m) off the shoreline of the Riverside neighborhood of the city of East Providence, Rhode Island. It is the northernmost lighthouse in Narragansett Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hog Island Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse

Hog Island Shoal Light, built in 1901, is a sparkplug lighthouse on a shoal off of Hog Island, Rhode Island. It is located about 600 feet (180 m) southeast of the island, at the entrance to Mount Hope Bay. It stands on a circular concrete foundation set in about 10 feet (3.0 m) of water, and rising about 6 feet (1.8 m) above the water line. It was built to replace a light ship, and was the last light station formally established in the state. The lighthouse was automated in 1964. In 1988 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006 the lighthouse was auctioned by the GSA as government surplus to a private buyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sakonnet Light</span> Lighthouse

Sakonnet Light, built in 1884, is a sparkplug lighthouse near Sakonnet Point, Little Compton, Rhode Island, on the eastern side of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plum Beach Light</span> Lighthouse

Plum Beach Light (Lighthouse), built in 1899, is a sparkplug lighthouse in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poplar Point Light</span> Lighthouse

Poplar Point Light (Lighthouse), built in 1831, is an historic lighthouse in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. It stands at the end of Poplar Point, marking the southern point of Wickford Harbor. The lighthouse was built in 1831 with a stone keeper's dwelling and wooden tower. The light was deactivated in 1882 and replaced by the Wickford Harbor Light. It was sold at auction in 1894 and has been altered by later owners. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The tower is the oldest surviving wooden lighthouse tower in the United States, and the oldest in Rhode Island still standing at its original location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warwick Light</span> Lighthouse

Warwick Light, also known as Warwick Lighthouse, is an historic lighthouse in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch Island Light</span> Lighthouse

Dutch Island Light is a historic lighthouse on Dutch Island off Jamestown, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Chop Light</span> Lighthouse

East Chop Light is a historic lighthouse standing on a bluff overlooking Vineyard Haven Harbor and Vineyard Sound, located along East Chop Drive in the town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. It is one of five lighthouses located on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cuckolds Light</span> Lighthouse in Maine, US

The Cuckolds Light, known as the Cuckolds Island Fog Signal and Light Station or just Cuckolds Light Station, is a lighthouse located on the eastern pair of islets known as the "Cuckolds" in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The islets are southeast and in sight of Cape Island, that is just off the southern tip of Cape Newagen on Southport Island, south of Booth Bay, that leads to Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Rhode Island". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
  3. Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2013. p. 165.
  4. 1 2 Rowlett, Russ (2013-03-20). "Lighthouses of Rhode Island". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Albert, Fred (28 August 2021). "Newport's Iconic Castle Hill Lighthouse got an overdue makeover this summer". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  6. D'Entremont, Jeremy. "History of Castle Hill Lighthouse, Newport, Rhode Island". New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Guide. Retrieved 24 November 2023.