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Managing Organization:
City of Gloucester
Telephone: 978-281-9700
Website: http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/
Notes:
Around 1880, artist Winslow Homer spent time at the lighthouse and painted scenes of Gloucester Harbor. Ten Pound Island Light was discontinued in 1956 and was replaced by an automated light on a skeleton tower. In the late 1980s, the Lighthouse Preservation Society initiated the restoration of Ten Pound Island Light. The light was returned to the tower, and there was a relighting ceremony on August 7, 1989. The oil house was restored in 1989. The lighthouse is owned by the city of Gloucester; the optic is still maintained by the Coast Guard.
Tower Height: 30
Height of Focal Plane: 57
Characteristic and Range: Three seconds red alternating with three seconds darkness, visible for 5 nautical miles.
Description of Tower: White, conical cast iron tower with black cast iron lantern.
This light is operational
Other Buildings?
Oil house.
Earlier Towers?
1821: 20-foot stone tower.
Date Established: 1821
Date Present Tower Built: 1881
Date Deactivated: 1956-1989
Date Automated: 1989
Optics: c. 1820s: 10 lamps and reflectors; 185?: Fifth order Fresnel lens; now 250 mm.
Fog Signal: Now automated horn with two blasts every 20 seconds (station once had fog bell).
Current Use: Active aid to navigation.
Open To Public? Grounds only.
Directions:
Ten Pound Island Light can be seen from many points along the Gloucester waterfront, including the Rocky Neck art colony and the area around the famous fisherman statue. Closer views are available via many cruises in the area; contact the Gloucester Chamber of Commerce at (978) 283-1601 for the latest cruise information. There is a water shuttle leaving Gloucester's Harbor Loop that will stop at Ten Pound Island on request. Moby Duck Amphibious Tours offers a 55-minute land and sea tour of Gloucester; call (978) 281-DUCK for information.
Mapquest URL: Click here to get a map to this lighthouse!
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Keepers: Amos Story (1833-?); George W. Davis (?); Moses Barrett (?); David Lufkins (?); Edward H. Hopkins (1922-?); Howard Ball (?-1950); Thomas Keene (c. early 1950s); Andrew M. McLaughlin (Coast Guard, October 1955 - February 1956)
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