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Managing Organization:
American Lighthouse Foundation (Lighthouse Kids Chapter)
Website: http://www.lighthousekids.com
Notes:
The daughter of Keeper Thomas Laighton, who came to White Island in 1839, was Celia Thaxter, a famed poet and author. The station is now owned by the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation. The has been in disrepair in recent years. A group of local 7th grade students, the Lighthouse Kids, launched a preservation effort, and the lighthouse tower is being renovated in the summer of 2005. A full restoration of all the buildings is estimated at $550,000.
Tower Height: 58
Height of Focal Plane: 82
Characteristic and Range: Flashing white every 15 seconds.
Description of Tower: White, cylindrical granite tower with black cast iron lantern.
Listed on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List of endangered lighthouses.
This light is operational
Other Buildings?
1.5 story keeper's house, oil house.
Earlier Towers?
1821: Stone tower later sheathed in wood.
Date Established: 1821
Date Present Tower Built: 1859
Date Automated: 1987
Optics: 1859: Second order Fresnel lens; now VRB-25, solar powered.
Fog Signal: Bell, later air siren; now automated electronic horn with one blast every 15 seconds.
Current Use: Active aid to navigation, diving school.
Open To Public? Grounds only.
Directions:
White Island Light can be viewed from cruises offered by the following companies: Island Cruises, Inc., (603) 964-6446, cruises departing Rye Harbor State Marina; Isles of Shoals Steamship Co., (603) 431-5500, leaving Portsmouth, N.H.; Portsmouth Harbor Cruises, (603) 436-8084.
Keepers: Joseph L. Lock (c. 1836); Thomas Laighton (1839-1846); Ben Whaling (employee of Thomas Laighton, 1839-1847); Fabius Becker (c.1846-1849?); L. H. D. Shepard (1849-1855); Richard G. Haley (1855-1861); Otis F. Haley (assistant, 1859-1861); John Bragg Downs (c. 1850, temporary keeper); Alfred J. Leavitt (1861-1866); Jonathan Godfrey (assistant, 1861-1863); Alonzo D. Berry (assistant, 1863-1864); Albert S. Perkins (assistant, 1864-1866); John E. Hoyt (assistant, 1866-1867); Alonzo Wise (1866-1869); George Balch (assistant, 1867-1868); John L. Allen (assistant, 1867-1868); Wiliam H. White (assistant, 1868-1869); Frank A. Otis (assistant, 1868-1870); Joshua Bickford (1869); Jonathan W. Berry (1869-1874); Abram Mathes (?) (assistant, 1869-1871); Thomas J. Varrell (assistant, 1870); George Chaplin (assistant, 1871); ? Gray (assistant, 1870); ? A. Yeaton (assistant, 1872); Parsons (?) Locke (assistant, 1872-1873); Charles H. Ramsdell (second assistant, 1873); Franklin R. Bragden (assistant, 1874-1876); Israel P. Miller (1874-1876); Edwin J. Hobbs (1876-1880); Alden W. P. White (assistant, 1876-1877); David R. Grogan (1880-1894); James Burke (1894-1912); Elias Tarlton, Jr. (assistant, 1884-1890); Thomas H. Barber (assistant, 1890-1891); Walter S. Amee (assistant, 1893); John Scannell (assistant, 1893-1894); John A. Hall (assistant, 1894-1896); Wallace S. Chase (assistant, 1897); William M. Brooks (assistant, 1897); Gordon A. Sullivan (assistant, 1909-1912); Alvah Robinson (assistant, c. 1914?); Edwin A. Pettegrow (c. early 1920s); Ron Tinkham (USCG c. 1940s); Charles U. Gardner (Coast Guard relief keeper, c, 1942-1943) ; Douglas Larrabee (c. 1950); Bill Cannon (Coast Guard, c. 1948-1950); John Parks (Coast Guard, c, 1948-1950); Charles Martin (c. 1956-1958); Harold Roberts (c. 1956-1958); Anthony Cherico (c. 1956-1958); Allan Petersen (USCG Officer in Charge, 1961-1962); BM1 Ira Machon (Coast Guard Officer in Charge, c. 1965-1966); ? Gordon, USCG (1968-1970); Bob Larson (Coast Guard, 1972-1974); John C. Waterman (Coast Guard, c. 1977-1978); Rick Loster, USCG Officer in Charge (8/1983-6/1984); Jeff Jones, (Coast Guard, c. 1983); Scott Powell, (Coast Guard, c. 1983); Rick Bennett, (Coast Guard, c. 1986); Kevin Madison, (Coast Guard, c. 1986)
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