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Long Point Light Station (MA)

Sept. 10, 2019
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Long Point Light Station, Provincetown, Massachusetts

LONG POINT LIGHT

Location: On Long Point, southwesterly side of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod Bay, Provincetown Harbor. 
Station Established: 1827 
Year Current/Last Tower(s) First Lit: 1875 
Operational: Yes 
Automated: Yes, 1952 
Deactivated: n/a 
Foundation Materials: Natural, emplaced 
Construction Materials: Brick 
Tower Shape: Square 
Markings/Pattern: White with black lantern
Height: 35-1/2 feet above mean high water 
Relationship to Other Structure: Separate 
Original Lens: Fifth order
Characteristic: Fixed white
Fog Signal: Fog bell: bell struck by machinery single and double blows alternately, intervals 30 sec.

Historical Information:

* 1826 – 4 acres purchased for light station. Keeper’s house with lantern on top built for $15,000. Oil house and shed built for an additional $1,000.
* 1827 – Lantern lit for the first time.
* 1845 – Pilings added to stop sand erosion from around the lighthouse.
* 1856 – Oil lamps replaced by 6th order lens.
* 1873 – The Lighthouse Board asked Congress for funds to replace the lighthouse.
* 1874 – Congress approved $13,000 for rebuilding the dwelling and tower and erecting a fog signal.
* 1875 – 5th order lens installed in the new light tower.
* 1927 – The power of the light was reduced to 29,000 candlepower.
* 1933 – The fog signal mechanism broke down. The keeper had to ring the bell by hand for over 9 hours straight.
* 1952 – Lighthouse was automated.
* 1982 – Solar panels and a 300 mm lantern installed.

Keepers: 

* Charles Derby (1826-1849)
* Charles Derby (Jr.?) (1849-1853)
* Jesse Freeman (1853-1855)
* Daniel Smith (1855-1856)
* Hiram Snow (1856-1862)
* Ebenezer Holway (1862-1867)
* E. H. Whelden (1867-1870)
* John Thomas Dunham (1870-1882)
* Herman Smith (1882-1888)
* Samuel S. Smith (1888-1904)
* Charles A. Havender (?) (1904-1905)
* Roscoe Lopaus (1905-?)
* A. G. Haskins (c. early 1930s)
* Thomas L. Chase (c. 1933)
* Charles Cain (c. 1946)

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.