The Watch Hill Lighthouse

The Watch Hill lighthouse is one of the oldest sites in America.

The Colony of Rhode Island built the first light on the site in the mid-1700s.

A storm destroyed light in 1781.

It was not rebuilt.

In 1794, Jeremiah Olney, Collector of Customs at Providence, received two letters asking that a light be built at the entrance to Long Island Sound.

One letter signed by fifty-four captains and ship owners wanted it placed on Little Gull Island.

The other letter from Tench Coxe, Commissioner of the Revenue, wanted it built at Watch Hill.

Both sides argued for years before the matter was finally settled by building lights at both sites.

A thirty-five feet wooden tower was built at Watch Hill in 1808.

A five-room keeper's dwelling was built near the tower.

It is not known how many lamps and reflectors were first installed in the light.

A report in 1838 stated that the light contained ten lamps with parabolic reflectors arranged around two rims of iron.

In 1856, a granite tower with an attached keeper's dwelling was built at Watch Hill.

A fourth order Fresnel lens was placed in the new tower.

Watch Hill lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation.

The light's Fresnel lens was removed in 1986 when the Coast Guard automated the light.

In 1806, Thomas Jefferson authorized a presidential act to build a light tower on what is presently known as Watch Hill, a name arising from the many previous watch towers and lanterns that had stood at this location for more than sixty years prior to the act.

Prior to this act, the point was also used as a lookout by the Niantic Indians, by the American colonists during the Revolutionary War and by the British during the French-Indian War. 

The Lighthouse, which was built in 1807, lasted until the mid-1850's, when a new lighthouse was built, cradled by a granite sea wall surrounding it to protect the beacon from erosion which claimed its predecessor.

Watch Hill Light, which sits on Little Narragansett Bay, guards the dangerous waterway location of where Fisher's Island Sound meets Block Island Sound.

That treacherous, reef-ridden area of water has claimed many victims.

In 1872, the ship the Metis collided with a schooner and killed over a hundred people as it slowly sunk.

In 1907, a worse fatal naval accident occurred. Another steamer, the Larchmont, also collided with a schooner a few miles off shore in ice waters during a winter blizzard. Nearly 150 people died.

It was arguably one of New England's worse maritime accidents.

During the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, the Watch Hill Lighthouse suffered severe damage but managed to survive the storm.

The keeper stated that waves were breaking completely over the top of the lighthouse.

There were 30 lighthouses built to protect Rhode Island waters.

Of these 21 are still standing.

The Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association does a superb job with this historic light.

Several other lighthouses are within striking range when at Watch Hill: Beavertail Lighthouse, Stonington Lighthouse and Point Judith Light.

And the public is welcome...usually!