Edgartown Harbor Light - Early History

Early History

The Edgartown Harbor Light was the first lighthouse constructed at the Edgartown Harbor entrance. The first light was built in 1828 when Congress appropriated $5,500 so the federal government could purchase a plot of land from Seth Vincent for $80, and build a light at the entrance of Edgartown Harbor. The necessity for a lighthouse at this location was precipitated by the large number of vessels frequenting the harbor during the whaling boom of the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The original Edgartown Light was a wooden, Cape Cod Style, two-story Keeper's house built on wood spiles a short distance offshore in shallow water. For the first two years of service, this offshore location required the Keeper to row a short distance. In 1830 Congress approved $2,500 for a wooden causeway to be constructed. This wooden causeway was colloquially known as the "Bridge of Sighs." A term that reflected the emotions of island people as they stood on the walkway watching whaling ships depart for voyages that lasted up to five years. The initial Edgartown lighthouse featured a glass lantern room protruding from the middle of the gabled roof of the Keeper's residence. This lantern room contained a fixed white light that was visible for about 14 miles. In 1850 Congress appropriated $5,000 for construction of a new causeway with a walkway on top. In 1856, after the Keeper's house was damaged by fire, the house was rebuilt, and the light replaced with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. During the 1860s – multiple repairs and renovations were done, including: rooms re-papered, 2 iron smokestacks raised, sills of the keeper's house were replaced and the house was whitewashed, the walkway was repaired. In the 1890s, the fuel and storehouse were built; a new oil house was constructed; a fence was built around the pier, and a new well was dug. This first Edgartown Light was destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938. In 1939, the United States Coast Guard demolished the existing buildings and installed an 1881 vintage cast-iron tower relocated from Ipswich Rear Range Light. When reconstructed at the mouth of Edgartown Harbor, the relocated conical tower was fitted with the fourth-order Fresnel lens, electrified, and automated.