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Managing Organization:
Town of Marblehead
Website: http://www.marblehead.org
Notes:
Ezekiel Darling, Marblehead Light's first keeper, had been a gunner on the U.S.S. Constitution. His successor, Jane C. Martin, was for a time the only female lighthouse keeper on the east coast. As large cottages were built on Marblehead Neck, the 1835 lighthouse proved to be too short, so a much taller one was built in 1895. Marblehead Light is the only iron skeletal style lighthouse in New England. The tower is now cared for by the Town of Marblehead under a license agreement with the Coast Guard.
Tower Height: 105
Height of Focal Plane: 130
Characteristic and Range: Fixed green.
Description of Tower: Brown cast iron skeletal tower, with black cast iron lantern.
This light is operational
Other Buildings?
Brick oil house.
Earlier Towers?
1835: Conical 20-foot brick tower.
Date Established: 1835 (10/10/1835)
Date Present Tower Built: 1895
Date Automated: 1960
Optics: 185?: Sixth order Fresnel lens; now 300 mm.
Current Use: Active aid to navigation.
Open To Public? Grounds only.
Directions:
North on MA 129 in Marblehead: Turn right at Ocean Avenue and cross a causeway to Marblehead Neck (caution: don't turn at Ocean Avenue in Swampscott; make sure you have reached Marblehead). After the causeway, bear left at a fork onto Harbor Avenue. Continue to connecting Ocean Avenue. At the end of the road turn left onto Follett Street and follow into the free parking area at Chandler Hovey Park. The lighthouse is a short walk from the parking area. Baker's Island Light can be seen offshore.
Mapquest URL: Click here to get a map to this lighthouse!
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Keepers: Ezekiel Darling (1835-1860), Jane C. Martin (1860-1862), John Goodwin (1862-1872), James S. Bailey (1872-1892), Albert M. Horte (Hortey?) (1892-1893), Henry T. Drayton (1893-1928), Russell B. Eastman (1928-1930), Edwin C. Rogers (1930-1938), Harry S. Marden (1938-1941), Joseph Barry (1947-1954). Light was under control of U.S. Army 1941-1947.
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