History of the Lighthouse Service and Lighthouse Construction Types National Archives photo Figure 1. Assembly of Point No Point Lighthouse caisson at Solomons, Maryland, before being transported to site in Chesapeake Bay. History of the Lighthouse returned unspent funds to the Treasury, Service during his tenure approximately 300 lighthouses were built. In 1847 the The U.S. Lighthouse Establishment was responsibility for the construction of six created by the First Congress in 1789 to lighthouses was granted to the Army Corps manage the twelve colonial lighthouses of Engineers. now controlled by the federal government and to oversee construction of new On August 31, 1852, the U.S. Lighthouse lighthouses. Sandy Hook Lighthouse, built Establishment became the U.S. Lighthouse in New Jersey in 1764, is the only colonial Board, largely as the result of numerous lighthouse that has survived (Boston Harbor complaints about the state of the U.S. Lighthouse, built in 1716, was rebuilt in lighthouse system. The nine-member board 1783-1784). Colonial lighthouses were was composed primarily of Naval and Army usually constructed of wood or rubble engineer officers. The country was divided stone. Between 1789 and 1820 about 40 into 12 new lighthouse districts, each with new lighthouses were built by the an inspector responsible for overall Lighthouse Establishment, many using brick construction, maintenance, and purchasing. and cut stone. Of these, only a few have Over the next five decades several survived, including Portland Head advances in lighthouse construction Lighthouse, Maine, built in 1790 and Cape technology took place, including the Henry Lighthouse, Virginia, built in 1792. development of exposed screwpile From 1820 until 1852, Steven Pleasonton, lighthouses, skeleton tower lighthouses, Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, was wave-swept interlocking stone lighthouses, responsible for lighthouse construction and iron caisson lighthouses, and breakwater repairs. Though Pleasonton routinely lighthouses. Many examples of these Historic Lighthouse Preservation Handbook Part II, Page 1 lighthouses exist today. In 1886, the million, and recurring savings of about $7 lighthouse districts were increased to 16. million annually.1 Every Coast Guard- owned lighthouse in the United States is The Lighthouse Board was transferred to the now automated and unmanned, with the Department of Commerce and Labor on sole exception of Boston Lighthouse. It will July 1, 1903. On June 17, 1910, the continue to be staffed in accordance with Lighthouse Board became the Bureau of Section 221 of the Coast Guard Lighthouses. The number of districts Authorization Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-225). increased to 19. Just before this transition, The Coast Guard continues to use the living reinforced concrete lighthouse towers came quarters of several former light stations as into use, particularly along the west coast housing units for its personnel. where earthquakes were common. In 1913 the Bureau was assigned to the Department Lighthouse towers themselves have become of Commerce when it separated from the less valuable to the Coast Guard because, Department of Labor. In 1939 the Bureau with modern automated beacons, it is more was abolished and its functions transferred cost effective to construct and maintain an to the U.S. Coast Guard where the aid to navigation on a steel structure or responsibility remains today. buoy, rather than inside the lantern of a traditional lighthouse tower. Thus, in many At the end of World War II the Coast Guard locations, the traditional lighthouse tower staffed 468 light stations. Following the has been found to have little value to the war, the Coast Guard embarked on a U.S. Coast Guard mission, other than to program of automation. The rationale for provide a visual aid to mariners during this program was 1) to reduce the cost of daylight and good weather.2 maintaining lighthouses, 2) to remove personnel from extremely isolated and The lighthouse automation process resulted hazardous locations, and 3) to make billets in a loss of practical experience gained by available for reprogramming. Despite these personnel stationed at the lighthouses. The efforts, the Coast Guard manned 327 peculiarities and unique needs of the lighthouses in 1962. The Coast Guard station could no longer be cared for on a initiated the Lighthouse Automation and daily basis. Experience and traditions were Modernization Program (LAMP) in 1968. no longer passed on from one keeper to LAMP was designed to accelerate and another. Many stations, especially the more standardize the remaining lighthouses for remote ones, are seldom visited by Coast automation and to standardize the Guard personnel, as little as once or twice a equipment at those previously automated. year. The lack of simple maintenance such Over $26 million was spent on LAMP over as mopping up condensation on a daily or 20 years; 1989 was the last year for LAMP weekly basis from the inside of the storm funding though a few automations were pane astragals of the lantern room now completed as late as fiscal year 1990. result in rust and corrosion. A broken storm LAMP resulted in over 300 billet reductions pane (window), formerly replaced within a amounting to savings in excess of $63 matter of hours, now may result in bird and rodent infestation. Vandalism from lack of on-site supervision and security is an even 1 United States Coast Guard Lighthouse Policy worse problem. Review (enclosure 7 to Chapter 6 of COMDTINST M11011.9B dated July 27, 1992), pp. 5-6, copy in files 2 David Reese and Robert Browning, Lighthouse of National Maritime Initiative, National Park Service, Management:: A Balancing Act for the U.S. Coast Washington, D.C. Guard, Cultural Resource Management (June 1997). Part II, Page 2 History of the Lighthouse Service and Lighthouse Construction Types NMI photo Figure 2. Portland Head Light Station, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, one of the few remaining towers built by the Lighthouse Establishment between 1789 and 1820. Lighthouse Construction muddy and/or sandy bottoms which could 3 not support the heavy masonry towers then Types in vogue. In areas such as the Chesapeake Politics, need, cost, location, and Bay, Delaware Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, the geography of the site, as well as technology Mississippi River delta, and the coral reefs available at the time of construction of the Florida Keys, the development of influenced lighthouse designs. Before the newer technology using screwpile, caisson, mid-nineteenth century, lighthouse and skeletal tower lighthouse construction construction technology required solid rock was essential to adequately light these or other stable foundation soils; onshore marine hazards. towers sometimes proved inadequate to As technology advanced, stations were warn of a shoal located offshore. In some improved or even moved to better mark 4 locations a lighted buoy or a lightship hazards such as offshore shoals. The 95- solved this problem. Riverine and estuarine foot-tall tower at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse environments, however, often had unstable (1803), North Carolina, was raised to 150 feet in 1854, and the present 208-foot tall tower replaced it in 1870.5 The first 3 The following section is from Ralph Eshelman, American Lighthouse Construction Types, part of the Thomas Point Shoals Lighthouse (1825), draft Maritime Heritage of the United States National Maryland, was a stone tower built on shore; Historic Landmark Theme Context Study for Lighthouses, it was replaced by an offshore screwpile National Maritime Initiative, National Park Service, 1995. 4 Lightships are a relatively new type of aid to navigation, first appearing in the U.S. in 1820. None are in operational use today. Lightships, however, played 5 According to 1989 HABS documentation, the an important role in establishing light stations in overall height of the structure is 208 feet including the locations difficult or impossible for the construction of foundation. The height from ground level was recorded submarine lighthouse structures. at 197 feet. Historic Lighthouse Preservation Handbook Part II, Page 3 structure in 1875 to place the aid closer to or integral to the keeper's quarters or fog the navigation channel.6 signal building. Generally, coastal lighthouses on the low, The tower served principally as a support flat southeastern coast of the United States for the lantern which housed the optic. The tended to have tall towers to elevate the lantern was typically constructed of cast lens high enough so the light may be seen iron; round, square, octagonal, or many miles at sea; whereas lighthouses on hexagonal-shaped, and surrounded by a the west coast tended to have short towers stone or cast-iron gallery. Access to the built on sea cliffs high enough to project the lantern room was via stone, wood, or cast- light many miles at sea. Several light iron stairs which either wound around a stations on the northeastern coast were also central column or spiraled along the interior located to take advantage of naturally high sides of the tower walls. elevation sites, such as Block Island Until the adoption of the Fresnel lens in the Southeast Lighthouse, Rhode Island, and United States in the 1850s, there was no Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Maine. uniform design for the lantern. Pre-1850s Ironically, the low clouds so characteristic lanterns are rare and are often referred to as of the west coast caused some station sites old style or bird cage lanterns because at high elevations to be moved to lower of their bird cage appearance. Selkirk altitudes with taller towers in order to get (Salmon River) Lighthouse, New York, built the light below the low cloud levels, but in 1838, retains its bird cage lantern. The high enough to be visible to ships at sea. bird cage lantern on Cape Henry The first Point Loma Lighthouse (1855) Lighthouse, Virginia, is a reconstruction of California tower was only 40 feet tall but one built in 1792.