Prudence Island Light

Last updated
Prudence Island Light
Prudence Island Light 2007 crop.jpg
Prudence Island Light
Location Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Coordinates 41°36′21.1″N71°18′12.7″W / 41.605861°N 71.303528°W / 41.605861; -71.303528 Coordinates: 41°36′21.1″N71°18′12.7″W / 41.605861°N 71.303528°W / 41.605861; -71.303528
Tower
Constructed1852  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
FoundationNatural / emplaced
ConstructionGranite blocks
Height8.5 m (28 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
ShapeOctagonal tower
MarkingsWhite
HeritageNational Register of Historic Places listed place  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Fog signal None
Light
First lit1823 on Goat Island
moved here in 1851
Focal height28 feet (8.5 m)
Lens5th order Fresnel lens (1852), 9.8 inches (250 mm) (current)
Range6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi)
Characteristic Flashing green, 6 seconds
Prudence Island Lighthouse
Prudence Island.jpg
ArchitectH. Vaugh, I.N. Stanley & Brother
MPS Lighthouses of Rhode Island TR
NRHP reference No. 88000270 [1]
Added to NRHPMarch 30, 1988

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. [2] [3] [4] Sandy Point is nicknamed Chibacoweda, meaning "little place separated by a passage", because the location is a little more than one mile offshore.

Contents

History

The lighthouse was constructed in 1823 and originally sat on a dike off Goat Island farther south in the Bay, where the Newport Harbor Light stands today. In 1851, it was transported to Prudence Island where it remains. It is one of the few lighthouses in the United States to retain its original bird-cage lantern. The light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [1]

1938 New England hurricane

The lighthouse keeper's house was swept away in the 1938 New England hurricane, and five people were washed out to sea and drowned:

  1. the keeper's wife, Mrs. George T. Gustavus (née Mable Gertrude Norwood; 1888–1938),
  2. the keeper's son, Edward J. Gustavus (1926–1938),
  3. the former keeper, Martin Thompson (1868–1938),
  4. James George Lynch (1863–1938) and v, his wife, Ellen Lynch (née Ellen Wyatt; 1870–1938) – both of whom had sought refuge at the lighthouse residence.

The lighthouse keeper, George Theodore Gustavus (1884–1976), was also swept into the sea, but was swept back ashore and survived. [3] [5] [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falkner Island</span> Island in the United States of America

Falkner Island is a 2.87-acre (1.16 ha) crescent-shaped island located in Long Island Sound 3 miles (5 km) off Guilford, Connecticut, United States. The island has been visited by the Native Americans for thousands of years. Its Quinnipiac name is "Massancummock", meaning "the place of the great fish hawks". In 1641, Henry Whitfield and the founders of Guilford purchased the island from the Mohegan tribe's sachem, Uncas, as part of a transaction for the land east of East River. Purchased by the Stone family in 1715, it remained in the family until it was sold to the government in 1801.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1938 New England hurricane</span> Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 1938

The 1938 New England Hurricane was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm formed near the coast of Africa on September 9, becoming a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, before making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Long Island on Wednesday, September 21. It is estimated that the hurricane killed 682 people, damaged or destroyed more than 57,000 homes, and caused property losses estimated at $306 million. Multiple other sources, however, mention that the 1938 hurricane might have really been a more powerful Category 4, having winds similar to Hurricanes Hugo, Harvey, Frederic and Gracie when it ran through Long Island and New England. Also, numerous others estimate the real damage between $347 million and almost $410 million. Damaged trees and buildings were still seen in the affected areas as late as 1951. It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane in recorded New England history, perhaps eclipsed in landfall intensity only by the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635.

<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">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">Black Rock Harbor Light</span> Lighthouse in Connecticut, United States

Black Rock Harbor Light, also known as Fayerweather Island Light, is a lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States which stands on the south end of Fayerweather Island and marks the entrance to Black Rock Harbor. The first lighthouse at the site, built by Abisha Woodward under contract with the United States government, was a wooden tower that was lit and made operational by 1808. A storm destroyed the tower in 1821 and the current, stone lighthouse was erected in its place in 1823. The Black Rock Harbor Light was an active navigational aid until 1933 when it was replaced by two automatic lights offshore. The beacon was subsequently given to the City of Bridgeport in 1934. Two significant efforts during the 1980s and 1990s served to restore the aging tower and the light was relit as a non-navigational aid in 2000. Black Rock Lighthouse is listed as a contributing property for Bridgeport's Seaside Park historic district.

<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">Castle Hill Light</span> Lighthouse

Castle Hill Lighthouse is located on Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island at the end of the historic Ocean Drive. 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. Although the property is owned by the nearby Castle Hill Inn, the lighthouse is owned by the United States Coast Guard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgartown Harbor Light</span> Lighthouse in Massachusetts, United States

Edgartown Harbor Light is a lighthouse located in Edgartown, Massachusetts, United States, where it marks the entrance to Edgartown Harbor and Katama Bay. It is one of five lighthouses on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The first lighthouse, a two-story wooden structure that also served as the keeper's house, was constructed in 1828. It was demolished, and replaced by the current cast-iron tower, in 1939. Originally located on an artificial island 1/4 miles from shore, the lighthouse is now surrounded by a beach formed, since 1939, by sand accumulating around the stone causeway connecting it to the mainland.

<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">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">Long Island Head Light</span> Lighthouse

Long Island Head Light is an historic lighthouse on Long Island in Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts. The current brick tower is the fourth lighthouse on the island.

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

Palmer Island Light Station is a historic lighthouse in New Bedford Harbor in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The lighthouse was built in 1849 out of stone rubble. It was discontinued when the harbor's hurricane barrier was built in the early 1960s, as its location immediately north of the barrier was no longer an outlying danger and there are lights on either side of the barrier opening.

The Gull Rocks Light was a lighthouse at the entrance to Newport harbor northwest of Rose Island. A unique A-frame structure, it was supplemented with a skeleton tower in 1928.

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

The Sabin Point Light was a lighthouse in the Providence River. It was removed as part of a channel-widening project in 1968.

The Bullock's Point Light was a lighthouse in the Providence River. It was irreparably damaged by the hurricane of 1938 and was replaced the following year by an automated light on a steel tower.

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

Borden Flats Light is a historic lighthouse on the Taunton River in Fall River, Massachusetts, US. It is a tower-on-caisson type known as a sparkplug lighthouse.

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

Bird Island Light is a historic lighthouse at the entrance to Sippican Harbor in Marion, Massachusetts. Built in 1819, its tower is a well-preserved example of an early 19th-century masonry lighthouse. The tower and the island on which it stands were added to the National Register of Historic Places as Bird Island Light on September 28, 1987.

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

Annisquam Harbor Light Station is a historic lighthouse on Wigwam Point in the Annisquam neighborhood of Gloucester, Massachusetts. It can be viewed from nearby Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester. It lies on the Annisquam River and is one of the four oldest lighthouses to surround the Gloucester peninsula as well as; Eastern Point Light, Ten Pound Island Light, and Thacher Island Light.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 170.
  3. 1 2 "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Rhode Island". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
  4. Rowlett, Russ (2012-10-31). "Lighthouses of Rhode Island". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  5. Hartford Courant, The (September 24, 1938). "Reports from Hurricane Stricken Territory Summarized by Regions: Rhode Island" . Vol. 102. Hartford, Connecticut. pp. 1 (columns 4–5) & 8 (columns 4–5). Retrieved February 22, 2021 via Newspapers.com   Re: 1938 New England hurricane.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  6. D'Entremont, Jeremy (born 1956) (June 2003). "Keeper George T. Gustavus, Survivor of Terror and Tragedy". Lighthouse Digest (magazine). East Machias, Maine. ISSN   1066-0038. OCLC   26863953 . Retrieved February 22, 2021 (D'Entremont is president of and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation, founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and the historian for the United States Lighthouse Society){{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)