America's First Lighthouse: Boston Light
America’s first lighthouse: Boston Light
This is a drone aerial view of Boston Light. Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The current lighthouse dates from 1783, is the second oldest working lighthouse in the United States
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Boston Light on Little Brewster Island
The Lady Claire passes Boston Light. Boston Light , located on Little Brewster Island, was the first lighthouse in the United States. It marks the southern approach to Boston Harbor.
Leaving Little Brewster Island
Sally Snowman, the last lighthouse keeper in the United States, dressied in 18th century period garb, waves goodbye to the departing commuter boat heading back to the docks at Fan Pier in Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. Departing Little Brewster Island in the Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts.
Catch Carri Interviews The Keeper Of Boston Light
Catch Carri as she interviews the keeper of the Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island. Sally Snowman, a woman who has spent 9 years working at the lighthouse, tells us a little bit about its beauty and historical relevance.
What a great day for a lighthouse tour, Sally Snowman says as she smiled at our group unloading from the ferry. We gathered in the boathouse on 3-acre Little Brewster Island to get the scoop on Boston Light, the first lighthouse built in the United States in 1776.
When I first arrived it felt like I was coming home, says Snowman who served as a volunteer before the U.S. Coast Guard hired her as the Keeper of the light. When I first climbed the tower I felt like I had done it a million times before.
Snowman, the sole remaining lighthouse keeper in the country for the U.S. Coast Guard, serves as site supervisor, caretaker and historian. To save costs, the U.S. Coast Guard has automated the other 278 federally run lighthouses.
I admired Snowman's colonial style dress and bonnet she wears while sharing the islands history. I made this. I alternate between a few dresses. They reflect what women wore centuries ago when the lighthouse was being rebuilt. In 1716, British troops blew up the tower during the Revolutionary War but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts rebuilt it 1783.
Visitors are welcome to climb the 76 steps to catch a glimpse of the Fresnel lens that beams 27 nautical miles out to sea. It has a certain type of romance to it. It's a type of romance you won't find anywhere else, says Park Ranger Donald Cann.
When autumn changes to winter, although less time is spent on the island due safety concerns, Sally prefers to be at the light during a bad storm or blizzard than on the mainland. I have never been scared of the weather. Even when the house is rattling through powerful storms. I think about how this house has never been destroyed and I feel safe.
As we chat, a fellow visitor hands Sally a four-leaf clover she found on the island. These are things that count in my life, she beamed. I have learned so much living out here. I don't want to feel stress. It ages you. Instead I read, write and play my flute when I am not working. It's a simple life.
Tours run through September 30.
Ticket Prices and Schedules:
Make sure to spot in the Museum at the base of Boston Light to spot the Coast Guards Oldest Artifact. A 293-year-old fog signal cannon was America's first official fog signal. It was fired every half-hour to help ships steer clear of the Rocky New England shoreline surrounding Little Brewster Island.
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Diving Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor - Part 1
September 2016 - Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts
Beautiful diving along Little Brewster Island on a stormy day in Boston Harbor. The first part of the footage was filmed during the surface interval, as we move the boat farther away from the island due to the storm.
After it passed and we got the go-ahead via radio, we did a second dive. Visibility was actually really good for the area (~20 feet) once down the line about 20 feet, max depth around 45' ~ (14 m).
Part 2:
Camera: GoPro HERO
America's first lighthouse turns 300
Lighthouses are a storied part of American history. They've not only lighted the path for ships and boats, but also guided the way for the country's founding. This Wednesday marks the 300th birthday of America's first lighthouse, now a historic landmark. Mark Albert reports.
Boston Light: 300 Years of Service
Established in 1716 to guide ships safely into the port of Boston, U.S. Coast Guard Light Station Boston continues to flash its beam across Massachusetts Bay 300 years later. Boston Light is the last manned Coast Guard Light Station in the country, located on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor – one of the 34 islands and mainland parks comprising the Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park. Sally Snowman, the 70th Keeper of Boston Light, will delight her audience with tales about Boston Light, family life on Little Brewster Island and the importance of this historic lighthouse for tomorrow’s mariner.
Boston Light House, Boston Harbor
Recorded on June 19, 2010 using a Flip Video camcorder.
Boston Light Tricentennial Celebration
On Long Wharf, Mayor Walsh joins Boston Harbor Now CEO Kathy Abbott, along with US Coast Guard leadership to commemorate the tricentennial of Boston Light, the first lighthouse in the western hemisphere. Situated on Little Brewster Island, it was first lit on September 14th, 1716, and stands as a symbol of maritime navigation, commerce, and recreation.
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Boston Lighthouse Tour
A trip with Boston Light Tours to visit the lighthouses on the outer Boston islands.
Music: Bensound.com
10231989 boston light sen kennedy visit
October 23 1989 visit to Boston Light and Little Brewster Island, with United States Senator Teddy Kennedy.
Illuminating Lighthouse Facts That Will Blow Your Mind!
From ruins at the bottom of the sea signifying the planet’s first lighted structure, mystifying events such as drowning, death by snakes, and unsolved disappearances, here are 12 Illuminating Lighthouse Facts That Will Blow Your Mind!
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12. They Freeze Over
Imagine fantastic towers and staircases completely covered with ice and dripping in icicles—like something out of The Chronicles of Narnia—and you’ve got a crystal-clear idea of what happens when it gets so cold that lighthouses freeze over. Two lighthouses, separated by only a catwalk, sit on the St. Joseph North Pier on the coast of Lake Michigan and are notoriously famous for their illustrious transformations every winter.
11. They’re All Unique
The two main purposes of a lighthouse are to serve as a navigational aid and to warn boats of dangerous areas. What we bet you didn’t know, is that all towers are unique, and they are specifically given different colors and patterns such as diamonds, spirals, and stripes, with which to distinguish one from the next.
10. They are Still Used Today
Despite impressive advances in technology over the years, lighthouses are still used today. In fact, they are integral aids for navigation currently implemented by the United States Coast Guard. Due to high maintenance expenses however, as well as growing electronic navigation systems, the lighthouse is becoming less prominent.
9. Everyone wants to be a Lighthouse Keeper
Interesting enough, many enthusiasts yearn to experience the intriguing life of a lighthouse keeper. Take one Ohio woman, for example, Sheila Consaul paid 71,010 dollars for Lake Erie’s Fairport Harbor West Breakwall Lighthouse in 2011 and has dedicated her life to fixing it up ever since. Consaul is one of many who forgo careers to pursue the life of a lighthouse keeper.
8. Some Don’t Come Cheap
The most expensive lighthouse built in America is St. George Reed near Crescent City, California. The construction took ten whole years in the making and cost the county a whopping 715,000 dollars.
7. The USA— where more is more
The Good ‘ol US-of-A, a nation where less is not more, where everything is bigger. Also here is home to the most lighthouses in the world, with more than 115 lighthouses along the Great Lakes in Michigan alone— that’s far more than any other state in the country. In total, the United States had 1,902 working lighthouses at one time, all standing guard along coasts, islands, inlets, and in the middle of bustling harbors.
6. A Structure Still Standing
The world’s oldest existing lighthouse still standing is considered the Tower of Hercules and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that marks the entrance of Spain’s La Coruna harbor in the municipality of Galicia. The lighthouse is amazingly still operational despite being erected in the first century.
5. Did you know?
The first-ever lighthouse dates to the third century BC! Egypt's own lighthouse called Pharos of Alexandria was made from a fire on a platform to signal the port entrance. Soon, a structure was put into place by the builders of the Ptolemaic Kingdom under the rule of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
4. Female Lighthouse Keepers
Amazingly, the duty of lighthouse keeping was one of the first U.S. government jobs available to women dating back to the 19th century. At a time when women had few opportunities outside of the constricting domestic sphere, the position of a lighthouse keeper was made available to them by the government and many served their roles honorably
3. The Little Brewster Island Lighthouse Tragedy of 1718
The world’s very first lighthouse keeper in America, George Worthylake, made 50 pounds a year running the Boston Light— the nation’s first light station built in America. But with great success, comes grave tragedy, and soon the lighthouse keeper endured an untimely death. On November 3rd, 1718, Worthylake, his wife Ann, their daughter Ruth and three others drowned while returning to the island after a Sunday church service in Boston.
2. The Lighthouse of Snake Island
Far off the coast of the state of Sao Paulo, sits an island so beautiful it's forbidden, as thousands of deadly snakes pervade the region. One of the only charming qualities of the area is the luminous lighthouse which can be found proudly gazing out to sea. Despite the snakes, someone had to man the operation and in the early 1900s, a lighthouse keeper and his family did just that.
1. The Flannan Isles Mystery
The 2019 film The Vanishing starring Gerard Butler tells this bizarre story. In December of 1900, a boat called Hesperus set sail for the island of Eilean Mor— one of seven islets of the Flannan Isles off the coast of northwestern Scotland. On a routine mission to replace new lighthouse keepers and relieve the current ones of their duties, a horrifying discovery was made upon reaching the island.
Outer Island - A Visit
An overview of the the non-profit organization, The Friends of Outer Island, a unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, located in Long Island Sound off the coast of Stony Creek CT,
All music, script and video is owned by the Friends of Outer Island 501C corporation.
Northshore Lighthouses
Lighthouses on the Northshore of Massachusetts - from the sea!
New book explores Boston Harbor Islands
They're right there in our own back yard. How much do we really know about the Boston Harbor Islands?
Castle Island in South Boston is a favorite outing for local families. What is the fort there called and who named it?
What is the small outcropping off Houghs Neck? Who once had a summer camp there?
Which South Shore island was bequeathed to Harvard College? You'll find the answers below, and in a new book, ``The Boston Harbor Islands: A History of an Urban Wilderness'' by David Kales of Arlington, with photographs by Ron Goodman of Quincy. The book is dedicated to Goodman's late wife, Judy, who died three years ago. Both Goodmans were active in the 10-year campaign to create Nut Island state park in Houghs Neck as part of the Boston Harbor cleanup. Ron Goodman, recently remarried, has lived in Houghs Neck for more than 40 years.
The Boston Harbor Islands, created in 1996 as a national park recreation area, contain 34 islands and peninsulas stretching from Winthrop to Hull and Hingham. Many -- World's End in Hingham and Peddocks Island between Quincy and Hull -- hold special meaning and memories for generations of South Shore residents.
Goodman, 69, and Kales, 68, are former Harvard College roommates and longtime friends who want this unique New England resource to be much more than that. Kales is a veteran journalist, freelance author and board member of Friends of Boston Harbor Islands. Goodman, involved in several civic groups, taught English and photography at Quincy College for 25 years. They took on the book as a project in semi-retirement to make more people aware of the islands and their legacy. Unless future generations take an active interest, they fear, the islands' survival as places of beauty and reflection could be lost.
Kales cites the recent proposal to locate a liquefied natural gas terminal off Outer Brewster Island as the latest and most extreme threat. He speaks passionately about the joy he finds in visiting the islands, ``a place for renewal and reconnection,'' and the furthermost Brewsters in particular -- ``truly wild, rockbound islands.'' He returns year-round to savor the rich mix of migratory birds and seals. Boston Light, the nation's first lighthouse, still in operation, is on Little Brewster Island. Kales sees all this as ripe for rediscovery -- a place people of all backgrounds can find recreation and relaxation.
And he makes a case for defining them as a wilderness.
They are, he writes, a wild, natural area, still unknown and mysterious, and like the western wilderness areas, alluring places that capture the imagination. A wilderness by any definition in his book, and one of the last in an urban setting.
``Seven million people live within 50 miles of the islands, but they're still undiscovered by the vast majority of people in the Greater Boston area and the nation,'' he says.
Each island or peninsula has its own story, and Spectacle Island is one of the more dramatic. Now an impressive day trip, a magical escape from the city on a hot summer's day, with wonderful views, easy walking trails, and a fine visitors center, Spectacle was once a foul city dump. Methane gas from piles of raw garbage ignited by spontaneous combustion and old horses were processed into glue. Thanks to the Big Dig and Boston harbor cleanup funds, it has been reclaimed and transformed, using tons of excavated Ted Williams Tunnel dirt and other materials as fill.
With historical illustrations and photographs, this 145-page paperback from History Press for $19.99 is a good read, informative, and inspiring. ``We hope it will become more than an accurate history and serve as an overture for the future stewardship of these wonderful resources,'' Goodman said.
The answers to that quiz:
-- Fort Independence on Castle Island was named by John Adams.
-- Raccoon Island off Houghs Neck had a summer camp in the 1930s run by the Stigmatine Religious Order.
-- Bumpkin Island off Hull in Hingham Bay was bequeathed to Harvard in the 1600s.
#SOTWBos went on Boston Light Tour!
#SOTWBos went on the Boston Light Tour. It is a informational and fun tour! Enjoy the beautiful and historic islands surrounding the Boston harbor. Be sure to check it out.
#SOTWBos 2013
Filmed by @DongHwaSOTW
Edited: @DongHwaSOTW
Lake Superior at Sand Hills Lighthouse Inn, December 23, 2012
Lake Superior at Sand Hills Lighthouse Inn, December 23, 2012
Split Rock Light House
Split Rock Light House Minnesota on Lake Superior
6-19-15 - Day 52 - Boston Harbor Lighthouse, Washington
This is a video of the Boston Harbor Lighthouse and Millersylvania State Park.
Music: Galactic Damages by Jingle Punks uploaded from YouTube free audio library.
Main Streets and Back Roads of Truro, Mass.
People say it's the light. There's just something different about the colors of the Outer Cape.