Cape Poge Lighthouse, Edgartown, Massachusetts
CAPE POGE (POGUE) LIGHT
Location: MARTHAS VINEYARD/CHAPPAQUIDDICK ISLAND
Station Established: 1801
Year Current/Last Tower(s) First Lit: 1893
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1943
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: STONE
Construction Materials: WOOD SHINGLE
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1857
Historical Information:
* 1801 – Congress appropriated $2,000 for a lighthouse to be built at Cape Poge. 35’ wooden tower was built.
* 1812 – Winslow Lewis refit the lantern with imitation argand lights.
* 1816 – Keeper’s house enlarged.
* 1825 – Stephen Pleasonton approved buying 4 more acres and moving the keeper’s house back from the shore.
* 1834 – Schooner Hudson grounded at Cape Poge and all passengers and crew were lost.
* 1844 – New octagonal wooden tower built by Winslow Lewis for $1600
* 1857 – 4th order lens added.
* 1880 – Keeper’s house replaced by duplex
* 1893 – New tower built 40’ from old one.
* 1898 – Characteristic changed from fixed white to flashing red and white.
* 1905 – Assistant Keeper’s son drowned.
* 1907 – Tower moved inland.
* 1922 – Tower moved inland again.
* 1943 – Lighthouse automated.
* 1954 – Out buildings, including the keeper’s house, were torn down.
* 1960 – Tower moved back 150’
* 1986 – Tower moved again – this time 500’ inland.
* 1997 – Lantern removed from tower, sandblasted, repainted, glass repaired and placed back on the tower.
Keepers:
* Matthew Mayhew (1801 – 1834)
* Lott Norton (1835 – 1844)
* Aaron Norton (1844 – 1850)
* Edward Worth (1850 – 1853, 1866 - 1882)
* Daniel Smith (1853 – 1859)
* George Ripley Marchant (1859 – 1866)
* Jethro Worth (Asst. Keeper 1867-1882, Head Keeper 1882 – 1883)
* George H. Fisher (1883 – 1898)
* George H. Dolby (1898 – 1902)
* Wallace Eldredge (1902 – 1908)
* J. E. Barrus (1908 – 1919)
* Henry L. Thomas (1919 – 1931)
* Marcus Pieffer (1931 – 1938)
* Joseph H. Dubois (1938 – 1943)
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.