Newburyport Harbor Front Range Light | |
Location | Newburyport, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°48′41.500″N70°51′53.500″W / 42.81152778°N 70.86486111°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1873 |
Part of | Newburyport Historic District (ID84002411) |
MPS | Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR |
NRHP reference No. | 87001486 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 15, 1987 |
Designated CP | August 2, 1984 |
The Newburyport Harbor Front Range Light is one of two historic range lights in Newburyport, Massachusetts. When it was built in 1873, it was located at Bayley's Wharf, and provided, in combination with the Rear Range Light, a critical aid for navigating into Newburyport's harbor. In 1964 the light was moved to its present location on the grounds of the Merrimack River Coast Guard Station. The stations are no longer in service, but serves as a daymark for arriving mariners. [2]
The light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, [1] and included in the Newburyport Historic District in 1984. [2]
Range lights, or leading lights, are pairs of beacons used to guide ships and ensure safe passage. The beacons consist of two lights that are separated in distance and elevation, so that when they are aligned, with one above the other, they provide a bearing. The original range lights at Newburyport Harbor were maintained by private subscriptions. By 1872 Congress had appropriated funds to establish publicly maintained range lights after one of the previous pair was destroyed in a storm. [3]
Newburyport's front range light is a circular structure, with a steel plate exterior, that is 35 feet (11 m) tall. Access is gained via a hatch-like curved door. The tower is topped by a ten-sided lantern house, surrounded by an iron balcony with railing. The windows of the lantern house are covered in wood. The light was constructed in 1873 on Bayley's Wharf, a short way west of its present location, along with the rear range light, which stands near Water Street. The light was converted from coal-based power to electricity in 1933, and automated in 1952. In about 1961 a 20-foot (6.1 m) hexagonal extension was built to increase the tower's height; this has since been removed. The tower was moved to its present site in 1964, at which the Coast Guard station was built in 1972. [2]
The Gasparilla Island Lights are on Gasparilla Island in Boca Grande, Florida. The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is on the southern tip of Gasparilla Island, and marked the Boca Grande Pass entrance to Charlotte Harbor.
Brant Point Light is a lighthouse located on Nantucket Island. The station was established in 1746, automated in 1965, and is still in operation. The current tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1987; it has the distinction of being the tenth light on the point, in addition to several range lights. Four of the others burned or blew down, two were condemned, two were unsatisfactory, and the remaining one stands unused.
The first Saginaw River lighthouse was constructed from 1839 to 1841, in a period when large quantities of lumber were being harvested and shipped from the heart of Michigan via river and the Great Lakes to the East Coast of the United States via the Erie Canal and Hudson River. This connection to major eastern markets was critical to the development of central Michigan.
Rockland Harbor Breakwater Light is a historic lighthouse complex at the end of the Rockland Breakwater in the harbor of Rockland, Maine. Replacing a light station at Jameson Point, the light was established in 1902, about two years after completion of the breakwater. Now automated, it continues to serve as an active aid to navigation. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse on March 20, 1981.
The Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light, named for William Price Craighill, was the first caisson lighthouse built in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, USA. First lit in 1873, the range marks the first leg of the maintained Craighill Channel from the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patapsco River into the Baltimore harbor and works in conjunction with the Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light. It was owned by non-profit organization Historical Place Preservation, Inc. from 2005 until the government took back the property in 2017 due to neglect. The lighthouse was put up for auction and sold to the highest bidder on September 15 2017 for $95,000.
The Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the first section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor. It is the tallest lighthouse in Maryland.
The Muskegon South Pierhead Light or Muskegon Pier Light is a lighthouse located on the channel in the harbor of Muskegon, Michigan.
The Haig Point Range Lights were range lights on Calibogue Sound at the northeastern end of Daufuskie Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina. The Haig Point Range Lights were built in 1873 and were maintained as an official aid to navigation until about 1924. The Rear Range Light house has been restored. It is a guest house for the Haig Point Club and serves as a private aid to navigation.
The Newburyport Harbor Rear Range Light is a historic lighthouse at 61½ Water St. near the Merrimack River in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It was built in 1873 as one of a pair of range lights for guiding ships up the river to the city's harbor.
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.
The Fort Sumter Range Lights are range lights to guide ships through the main channel of the Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The original front light was built at Fort Sumter and the original rear light was in the steeple of St. Philip's Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Both lights were lit from 1893 to 1915 to make range lights. Today the Fort Sumter Range is the main approach channel to Charleston Harbor.
The Nantucket Beacon formed a range with the Brant Point Light to guide vessels into Nantucket harbor. Operated at various times in the 19th century, it was deactivated sometime after 1870. This range was eventually succeeded by the Nantucket Harbor Range Lights, which are still in operation.
The Ipswich Range Lights are a pair of range lights on Crane Beach in Ipswich, Massachusetts. They have a long and varied story. They were first built as two brick towers, 542 feet (165 m) apart on a more or less east–west line in 1838. The movement of the sands led to shifting of the towers and by 1881 the rear tower, Ipswich Rear Range Light, was badly cracked. It was replaced by a cast-iron tower, while by 1867 the front light, Ipswich Front Range Light, had been replaced by a movable wood structure that could be shifted as the channel shifted. The front light was discontinued in 1932 and the rear light was replaced in 1938 with a skeleton tower. It, or its replacement, is still in service today. The 1881 cast-iron rear tower was loaded on a barge and shipped to Edgartown, Massachusetts, where it replaced the Edgartown Harbor Light that had been destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938.
The Hyannis Rear Range Light, also known as the Hyannis Harbor Light, was a lighthouse and, for part of its life, one of a pair of range lights adjacent to Hyannis Harbor. The Range Rear tower was built in 1849 and equipped with a 5th order Fresnel lens in 1856. In 1863 the original birdcage lantern was replaced with a new cast iron one. In 1885, a front range light was added on the Old Colony Railroad Wharf, and the two lights together served to leading vessels to the wharf. The 20 foot Range Rear tower is shorter than most lighthouses, as its purpose was just to guide ships to the wharf. In the early 1800s, the railroad extended from its current terminus at the Hyannis Transportation Center, down what is now Old Colony Road to Harbor Road, where it ended in the 300 foot wharf that was a busy area for shipping coal, lumber, grain and fish.
The Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light is a lighthouse located off M-28 in Munising Township, Michigan. It is also known as the Bay Furnace Rear Range Light, Christmas Rear Range Light, or End of the Road Light. The corresponding front range light was replaced in 1968; the rear range light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is no longer an active aid to navigation.
Rawley Point Light is a lighthouse located in Point Beach State Forest, near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. At 111 feet (34 m) tall, it is the tallest lighthouse on the Wisconsin Shore and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Duluth South Breakwater Inner Light is a lighthouse on the south breakwater of the Duluth Ship Canal in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It forms a range with the Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light to guide ships into the canal from Lake Superior. The current structure was built from 1900 to 1901.
The Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights are a pair of lighthouses located on the west pier at the entry to Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge, in Grand Marais, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights are lighthouses in Michigan at the entrance to the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan. The station was built in 1832 with the current lights built in 1906 and 1907; they were decommissioned in 2005.