![]() This is how it was symbolically to happen: the first lighthouse keeper in the US started to live there the last one being thrown out of the same place.Īt that point the fair people of Boston rebelled. ![]() The Coast Guard came over to evict the last lighthouse keeper: he was not needed anymore, and no longer included in the budget. All other lighthouses were already automated by that time, Boston Light was the last remaining. In 1989, a new calamity befell to Boston Light. Since 1783, Boston Light was turned off only once: during World War 2, to prevent German planes and submarines from finding Boston. The new tower, which stands there till this day, was built in 1783 - it makes it the second oldest active lighthouse building in the US. When the British evacuated from Boston in 1776, they blew up Boston Light as their parting gift to the former subjects. Original tower of Boston Light (drawing ca. 1729) ![]() You can actually see the cannon at the right edge of this drawing. It was a cannon, which the keeper would fire when visibility was poor. In 1719 Boston Light got another first - first fog signal in the US. And, say, New York City got its first lighthouse fifty years after Boston. At that time, there were just seventy lighthouses in the entire world. Having decided to get themselves a lighthouse in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the good people of Boston were quite forward-looking. Representing the business community of the city, George petitioned Massachusetts authorities in 1713 forĮrecting of a Light Hous & Lanthorn on some Head Land at the Entrance to the Harbour of Boston for the Direction of Ships & Vessels in the Night Time bound into the said Harbour. In the story of the nearby Georges Island we mentioned the prominent Boston merchant and selectman John George, after whom, apparently the island was named. Boston Light as seen from Boston Harbor at sunset I am sure it did not hold any bad feelings. The lighthouse gout our best wishes a few hours before the birthday. Unfortunately, the weather forecast turned bad, and so we moved our voyage up one day. As remarked somebody in Coast Guard, Not many things in our country last for three hundred years.Īnd so, it was planed for Septemto sail out to Boston Light and and to offer it out best anniversary wishes. Wouldn’t it be neat to sail to Boston Light on its 300 th birthday, heave-to by it, open some champagne, drink to its health? After all, three hundred years is a quite respectable age. When I was first researching Boston Light for a blog post, back in 2015, I found this photo in Coast Guard Facebook feed: the lighthouse keeper Sally Snowman wishes the light happy 299 th birthday.Īs I saw that photo, an idea immediately came to my mind. ![]() Boston Light was first lighted on September 14, 1716. US Coast Guard (the agency responsible for lighthouses) considers lighthouse birthday to be the day when it was first lighted. It is the last lighthouse in the US that still has a keeper: Sally Snowman, the 70 th Boston Light keeper (and the first woman). In addition, Boston Light holds another record. Now, on to Boston Light! You might have seen its iconic image in books and on postcards.īoston Light was the first lighthouse built on the territory of the modern United States: in 1716. Boston Light is in foreground it is about 2.8 miles between the lighthouses. It is not easy to find a spot in the harbor where both fit in the frame and their sizes are comparable, but in November I finally found a hill in Hull that just fits the bill. On these neither days of winter, as I peek out behind snowbanks, I wanted to write about Boston Light, to remember longer days and warmer nights.įirst, however, let’s look at the two towers together. Two lights with different appearance and different history, but equally beautiful, each in its own right. Two lighthouses - two towers - protect Boston Harbor: Graves Light marks northern approaches to the harbor, and Boston Light marks southern approaches. ![]()
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